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THE 



Model Prayer 



A Course of Lectures on the Lord's Prayer. 



By GEORGE C. BALDWIN, D.D., 

AUTHOR OF " REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN," " REPRESENTATIVE MEN, 
"SERMONS," ETC., ETC. 







BOSTON: 

LEE AND SHEPARD. 

1871. 

V 



A* 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, 

By LEE & SHEPARD, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Rand, Avery, & Frye, Stereotypers and Printers, Boston. 



TO 

"THE YOUNG MEN'S COVENANT BAND," 

AND 

"THE YOUNG WOMEN'S COVENANT BAND," 
©f tfje JFtrst Baptist Cfjurdj, GTroj, tf.g., 

UNDER WHOSE AUSPICES THESE LECTURES WERE DELIVERED, 
AND AT WHOSE REQUEST THEY ARE PUBLISHED, 

THEY ARE 

SPECIALLY DEDICATED. 



|)«;r J'R%r 



fo{rijr|r art in ty&bm, 

jjallobnb ht tjjg nana. 

&jrg hingfrom mxxxt. 

CJjjr toill fo irons in mxfy as it is in jjcabm 

&xbt ns tfris irag axxx bailjr bxeao. 

^,no f0r0iir^ ns onr toots, 

as to* forgifxe onr ireotors. 

lino leao ns not into temptation, 

jjnt 0,dib*r ns from *oiI. 

r or fyxm is % kinojtrom, ano % notour, 

ano % glorg, for tbtx. 



OO^TE^TS, 



THE MODEL PRATER. 



What is proposed in this Course of Lectures. — Unbelief in Prayer. 

— The Christian Doctrine. — Lamentable Ignorance of it. — Con- 
firmations of Reason and Experience. — Bishop Taylor.— Tenny- 
son.— Henry Ward Beecher. — Analysis. — Origin and Design 
of the Lord's Prayer.— Why there is no Reference to our Lord 
himself in it, or to his Merit. — Ecclesiastical History. — Justin 
Martyr. — Tertullian. — The Unwritten History of this Prayer. — 
Its General Acceptance. — Prof. Muller. — Pope Pius.— Coquerel. 

— Maurice. — Its Influence on the Character of Washington. — 
Literature. — Booth the Actor. — "Bleak House." — Its Testi- 
mony to the Truth of the Bible and the Divinity of Christianity. 

— Its General Use.— Its Marvellous Depth, Breadth, and Capa- 
bilities. —Worthy of Fresh Study from the Stand-point of To-day 



15 



II. 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 



Madame De Stael. — Mission of Christ. — Analysis. — Rev. Dr. Wil- 
liams. — What in God constitutes Fatherhood ? — Parentship. — 
The Development Theory. — Dr. Young. — The King of Prussia. 
— Providential Provision. — Love. — Poetry. — Human and Di- 
vine Fatherhood compared. — The Jew, the Priest, and the 
Christian. — Truths involved. — What constitutes Sonship in 
Us ?— The Vital Point. — Relation and Character. — Shakspeare. 
' — A Lamentable Fact. — A Glorious Truth. — Regeneration a 
Spiritual Necessity. — The Experience of a Troy Officer in our 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 



late War. — Results of Christian Truth aud Grace.— Testimony 
of Paul. — Lei ghton. — Privileges of Childhood.— Witness of the 
Spirit. — Freedom of Access. — Special Promises. — Protection. 

— Corregio. — Special Duties arising out of Fatherhood in Him 
and Childhood in us. — "Dear Children." — The Father's House. 

— The Final Gathering at Home. — Caiaphas. — Transcendent 
Prospect. — Poetry 43 

III. 

HIS NAME. 

Prof. Muller on Names. — Bible Use. — Exposition. — Socrates. — 
Plato. — Demosthenes. — Howard. — Garibaldi. — Exponents of 
Position. — Shakspeare. — Wordsworth. — A Blasted Name. — 
Outgush of Childhood. — The Prayer. — Dr. Barrow. — The Pro- 
priety of this Petition. — The Relationship. — Reason and Con- 
science. — Poetry. — Divine Requisition. — Influence of a Name. 

— Solomon. — God's regard for His Name. — Cardinal Buona- 
venture. — Our Welfare identified. — How His Name may be 
hallowed. — Influence of Words. — The Temple Chants. — Un- 
due Familiarity. — Profanity. — Prevalence of this Vice. — Rev. 
Dr. Chapin. — Hebrews and Heathen. — Washington's Order- 
Book. — The Heart. — The Law. — Jeremy Taylor. — Cyprian. 

— Luther and the Reformation. — Robinson of Leyden. — Our 
Lives. — Wider Range of Influence. — How Earthly Parents are 
honored or dishonored. — Pathetic Exclamation. — Recapitula- 
tion. — Prayer. — Rare Old Hymn, by Thomas Cotterel . . 73 

IV. 

HIS KINGDOM. 

What is a Kingdom ? — Democracy. — The Three Kingdoms, — Mate- 
rial, Providential, Spiritual. — Rebellion. — Scriptural Use of 
14 The Kingdom of God." — Elemental, Aggregate, Fruitional. — 
Leighton. — Is God out of, or G<>d u in Christ," King over the 
Soul-Realm? — Prophecies. — Prerogatives of Royalty claimed 
by Christ. — The Crown of Thorns. — Royal Proclamation. — 
Laws of His Kingdom. — Philosophizing about Soul-Duty.— 
Rights of Subject. — Hyacinth. — Manning. — Claims of the Pope. 

— Huss the Martyr. — Basis of Christian Union. — Character- 
istics. — Lawful Authority. — Rectitude. — Omnipotence. — Love. 

— Permanency. — Glory.— Nature of this Petition. — Can We 



CONTENTS. 9 



pray It? — Dare we? — Extent of this Prayer. — The Mission- 
ary Spirit. — The Time of the Coming. — Reasons why it should 
come immediately. — Exhortation. — The Decree. — Opposition 
Futile. — Direction. — Nothing Lost. — Poetry. — Words of En- 
couragement. — Progress. — Maxwell. — Blood of Martyrs. — Na- 
poleon at Helena. — Wonderful Testimony. — The Crucified to 
be Universal Conqueror. — 1683 95 



HIS WILL. 

Unity of this Prayer. — Logical Relation. — Vast Importance of this 
Subject. — What is the "Will" of any Being? — Law. — Mean- 
ing of "Testament." — Speculations concerning the Basis of 
Moral Obligation. — Newton. — Dr. Adam Clarke. — The Apostle 
John. — The Assumption of this Petition. — Fallacies. — True 
Theory. — Rebellion in the Soul-Realm. — Old Theologians. — 
Prophecy. — Testimony of New Testament. — Fatalism. — Testi- 
mony of Facts. — Philosophy of Religious Experience. — Why 
offer this Prayer? — Necessity of Divine Aid. — The Grace of 
Obedience. — Promises. — Augustine. — Sabbath-school Fact. — 
Baxter. — Archbishop Usher. — How Angels do His Will. — Our 
loved Ones in Heaven. — True Aim. — Submission to His Will. 

— G-ethsemane. — Example. — Our Gethsemanes. — Whom He 
loveth He chasteneth. — Augustine's Mother. — Shakspeare. — 
Invasion of Rome by the Huns. — The Best Soldier. — The Old 
Prophet. — Poetry. — The Inevitable Future. — The Happiest 
Man in the World. — Whittier's Hymn . . . . . .123 

VI. 

DAILY FOOD. 

The Strongest Evidences of the Divinity of Christianity found in the 
Lord's Prayer. — Beza. — The Syriac Version. — Analysis. — As- 
sumption of Relation between God and our Daily Food. — Con- 
firmations of Faith. — The a priori Argument. — The Miracle. 

— Argument from Fatherhood. — Mysticism. —Materialism. — 
Wonderf ulness of the Human Body. — Bible View. — Nature and 
Extent of this Relation. — Paul at Athens. — Secondary Causes. 

- — Essentialities beyond Human Power. — Bishop Heber. — Story 
of a Scotch Pastor. — Ability to use Means. — Divine Warnings 
concerning Human Proclivity. — Providential Blessings. — Es- 



10 CONTEXTS. 



tablished Laws. — Industry. — " Bread of Violence. " — Toil a 
Benefit to the Toiler. — Doubling the Grift. — Economy. — Les- 
sons Taught. — Daily Recognition of God. — Rebuke.— Solo- 
mon. — Moderation of Desires. — Causes of Disease. — Prayer of 
Agur. — A Merchant's Experience. — Distrustfulness of Provi- 
dence. — Inconsistency. — Extent of Promises. — Exhortation. — 
The Future Guaranteed 147 

" VII. 

FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 

The Spiritual Soul-Realm. — Its Superiority to the Physical. —Cy- 
prian. - Spiritual Necessities. — Exegesis. — " Debts," " Tres- 
passes," and" Sins." — Reasons for preferring the Word" Sins." 

— The Subject of this Petition. — Human Philosophies. — What 
is Sin? — A Condition and an Act. — Decision of the Supreme 
Court. — Universal Fact. — Truths about "Our Sins."— The 
two Propulsions. — The Object of this Petition. — Our Lord's Ad- 
vice. — Courses which Men propose. — Heaven's Anthem. — Two 
Mysteries in the Divine Government. — Atonement Defined. — 
The Real Gospel. — P re-requisites to the Acceptable Offering of 
this Petition. — Realization of Sin. — How a True Understand- 
ing of the Lord's Prayer is adapted to produce such Realizations. 

— Two Questions. — What to do if we have no Sense of Sin. — 
What to do if we have. — Precious Promises. — Their Certain 
Fulfilment. — Encouragement. — "Flee as a Bird to the Moun- 
tain." ... 175 

VIII. 

THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

The General Law of Limitation. — Its only Exception. — Its Applica- 
tion to this Petition. — The Beneficent Justice of this Limitation. 

— Gospel Illustrations. — Poetry. — A Serious Difficulty. — Its 
Explanation. — Forgiving but not Forgetting. — Frederick the 
Great. — How God Forgives. — Shakspeare. — What disposes 
and enables us to do this. — German Infidels. — " The Grace of a 
Beaten Hound." Treating Others as they treat Us. — The two 
Antagonistic Spirits. — What it is to be a Christian. — Poetry. — 
A Colonel in our Army. — The Test. — Scripture Testimony. — 
Importance of this Christly Spirit. — Condition of our own Par- 
don.— Effect of Unforgiven Sin. — Poetry.— The Unforgiving 



CONTENTS. 11 



Unforgiven. — Enjoyment and Usefulness dependent. — The 
Heathen Philosopher. — Pliny. — Shakspeare. — An Unknown 
Writer. — Solomon.— Sir Matthew Hale. — Archbishop Cran- 
mer. — Desales. — Dryden. — Subjective and Objective Power. 
— What broke a Wicked Soldier's Heart. — God's Ordination . 199 



IX. 



TEMPTATION. 

Difference in Words as spoken by Different Persons. — The Fact 
which invests this Petition with Deepest Interest. — Exposition. 

— Double Meanings. — Adam. — Abraham. — Perplexing Diffi- 
culty. — Positions assumed. — Direct Relation of God to our 
Temptations. — Probation. — Bishop Butler. — Hezekiah. — 
Providential Arrangements for testing Character. — Aaron Burr. 

— Primitive Fathers. — The Two-fold Design. — A Charleston 
Banker. — Dr. Chapin. — Job. — David. — Indirect Relations of 
God to our Temptations. — Hebraistic Mode of Speaking. — 
Moral Necessity. — Elements within Us. — Process of Tempta- 
tion. — St. Bernard. — Alchemy of Depravity. — Dangers with- 
out.— Power of the Devil. — Social, Business, and Political.— 
Startling Facts.— What shall be done ?— A Little Child. — Poe- 
try. — Realization of Danger. — Pray this as never before. — 
Encouragements. — The Great Exemplar. — Promises. — Keep- 
ing out of the Way of Temptation. — Best Society to be Sought. 

— Warnings from Experience and the Bible 228 



DELIVERANCE FROM EVIL. 

Epitome of Christian Experience in the Lord's Prayer. — Evidence 
of Forgiveness. — Augustine. — What is Evil? — A Condition 
and an Experience. — Relation between Sin and Misery. — Im- 
portance of this Petition. — World full of Evils, but only One 
Essential Root. — Dr. Barrow's Exhaustive Statement. — Unbe- 
lief of Men. — The "Ruined Man." — Commercial Nomencla- 
ture. — Deduction of Reason. — Testimony of God. — Poetry. — 
Inability for Self-deliverance.- Struggles of Humanity. — Cae- 
. sar. — Byron. — Rev. Dr. Williams. — Experiences of the Best 
of Men. — Encouragements. — That He taught us thus to pray 
who cannot err. — His Sympathy. — Quotation from Dr. Wil- 



12 CONTENTS. 



liams.— Divine Ability to Deliver. — The Title given God Sev- 
enty Times in the Bible. — The Columbia River as described 
by the United-States Expedition Party. — The Help that never 
failed. — Poetry. — So Many have been Delivered. — Their Testi- 
monies to the Efficiency of Grace.— The Lion of the Tribe of 
Judah. — Promises 249 

XL 

THE ARGUMENT. 

Ascending and descending a Mountain. — Is this a Portion of the 
Original Prayer ? — Omissions in Manuscripts. — Reasons for re- 
ceiving this. — Syriac Versions. — Greek Liturgies. — Calvin. — 
Causal Preposition. — God has always permitted Arguments in 
Prayer. — Elijah. — Jehoshaphat. — Job. — Leighton's Fine Fig- 
ure.— Unity and Logical Force of the Argument. — Analysis. — 
Points in the Argument. — God's Sovereignty. — The Roman's 
Boast. — The Ecumenical Council. — Fulfilment of Prophecy. 

— Danger from Democracy. — Divine Almightiness. — Deifica- 
tion of Nature. — Argumentative Power. — Alexander the Great. 

— The Logical Culmination. — Divine Glorification the Ultimate. 
— The Conqueror's Reply. — The Crowning Chapter. — The 
Closing. — "Amen." — Martin Luther. — Concluding Words. — 
Depths Unreached. — Need of Gracious Aid. — Address to 
Prayerless People. — The Judgment. — Sorrow against the Day 
of Sorrow. — The Prodigal. — Final Words to those who do 
pray 275 




THE MODEL PRAYER. 




" &fter tijis manner, therefore, prag ge.' 

Matt. vi. 9. 




LECTURES ON TIE LORD'S PRAYER. 



THE MODEL PRAYER. 

" Our God is a Spirit; and they who aright 
Would perform the pure worship He loveth, 

In the heart's holy temple will seek with delight 
That Spirit the Father appro veth. 

Bernard Barton. 

rj^RAVELLERS who are about to examine 
-L a renowned edifice, rare in its architect- 
ure, venerable from its antiquity, and rich in 
its associations, before entering its portals are 
wont to take views of its external features. 

So let us, who propose to study the sacred 
structure of " The Lord's Prayer," before 
passing within its hallowed precincts, occupy 
ourselves, for the present, with considerations 
more or less external to it, and preparatory to 
our future examination of its contents. 

15 



16 THE MODEL PRAYER, 

I. The object before us is a Prayer, only a 
Prayer, and one with which we have been 
familiar since our childhood. 

Are there those who say, " We do not believe 
in prayer at all : we hold that all things are 
controlled by unchangeable laws; that Deity 
himself is immutable, and that therefore all 
prayer is useless " ? 

I will not stop to notice the bitterness of the 
reflection which such utterances cast upon the 
character of our Lord Jesus Christ, who set us 
the example, and taught us the duty, privilege, 
and manner, of prayer; but content myself, 
in this connection, with merely stating what 
the Christian doctrine concerning this subject 
is. The general ignorance in regard to it is 
lamentable. Most of those who reject this 
doctrine do not know what it is ; at least, such 
is the result of my observations. 

Chiefly because science teaches that all 
events are linked to adequate causes, and that 
the relation between such causes and effects 
is unchangeable, therefore these objectors con- 
clude that there is no place left for prayer in 
the economy of human life. 



THE MODEL PRAYER. 17 

But what will such say when told that the 
Christian doctrine is, that in the spiritual world 
it is an immutable law, enacted by the immuta- 
ble God, that he will hear and answer accept- 
able prayer ; that he has established just such 
an unchangeable relation between praying and 
receiving as we find between sowing and reap- 
ing in nature, or between effort and success in 
business; that between prayer as a cause, and 
its answer as an effect, exists the same connec- 
tion as is found obtaining between causes and 
effects elsewhere in the world ? 

Whatever may be said in reply to this state- 
ment of our belief, it seems just to insist, that 
the objections referred to do not hold against 
the true Christian theory of prayer, but are 
based upon ignorance of it, and are, consequently, 
as unreasonable in our day as were the gibes of 
Voltaire, the sneers of Gibbon, or the sophistries 
of Hume, in a former period. 

Moreover, the Christian theory of prayer is 
confirmed by Tmman experience. One of the 
profoundest thinkers in America has said, " The 
best answer to all objections against prayer is 
found in the fact, that, in certain circumstances, 

2 



18 THE MODEL PRAYER. 

man in all ages, in all relations, in all degrees 
of civilization, has prayed; that in circum- 
stances of need he cannot help praying: his 
nature spontaneously cries out for God." 

With this basis in revelation and experience, 
nothing can be more rational, appropriate, or 
beautiful than prayer. 

Why, what is this exercise ? It is the act of 
a creature bowing before the Creator ; the finite 
supplicating the Infinite ; the subject doing 
homage to his King ; the child addressing his 
Father ! 

What is it ? It is the uplift of thought, the 
plea of the heart, the outgo of desire, the cry 
of need, the aspiration of hope. 

It is dependence bowing before sovereignty ; 
ignorance seeking knowledge from wisdom ; 
weakness imploring strength from omnipotence ; 
gratitude acknowledging mercies from supreme 
beneficence ; sorrow pouring its griefs into the' 
ear of infinite compassion ; conscious guilt ask- 
ing pardon from boundless mercy. 

Bishop Taylor beautifully remarks, " Prayer 
is the key to open the day, and the bolt to shut 
in the night. But, as the clouds drop the early 



THE MODEL PRAYER. 19 

dew and the evening dew upon the grass, yet it 
would not spring and grow green by that con- 
stant and double falling of the dew unless some 
great shower, at certain seasons, did supply the 
rest : so the customary devotion of prayer, twice 
a day, is the falling of the early and the latter 
dew ; but, if you will increase and flourish in 
works of grace, empty the great clouds some- 
times, and let them fall in a full shower of 
prayer." 

Friend, whatever you may think, I tell you 
that it is one of the sublimest facts of the spirit- 
ual world, that God is the " hearer of prayer; " 
that, to millions of the most intelligent of earth, 
prayer is the vital breath of their spiritual na- 
tures ; that its efficacy is to them a matter of 
personal consciousness. 

6 True piety has found friends in the friends 
of science ; and true prayer has gone up from 
lips wet with Castalian dew." Say what men 
may, think what they will, the world's thinking 
associates 'prayer fulness with goodness. No one 
understood this better than the wicked Charles 
II., who planned that the Englishmen who 
visited him on the Continent should overhear 



20 THE MODEL PRAYER. 

him praying in his closet : they were thus de- 
ceived into forming a wrong estimate of his 
true character. 

The most intelligently devout of all lands say, 
with Tennyson, — 

" More things are wrought by prayer 
Than this world dreams of. ... 
For what are men better than sheep or goats, 
That nourish a blind life within the brain, 
If, knowing God, they lift not holy hands in prayer, 
Both for themselves and those they call their friends ? 
For so the whole round earth, in every way, is 
Bound by golden chains around the feet of God." 

But do any say, " We are entirely familiar 
with ' The Lord's Prayer : ' we have repeated it 
hundreds of times ; and it therefore seems in- 
credible that we should be much interested in it 
now " ? 

Do any ask, " Why did not the preacher select 
some more popular, more sensational subject for 
a course of lectures? " 

To this I reply, that the preacher has preached 
too long, and had too much experience, to care 
much for merely sensational effects ; that his 



THE MODEL PRAYER. 21 

view of the pulpit is, that it has higher minis- 
tries than to cater to a desire for them. As to 
your familiarity with ' this prayer, all I care to 
say just here is, that, if you patiently accompany 
me through its exposition, I hope to show you 
that it has higher heights, deeper depths, broader 
and more comprehensive ranges of truth, than 
you have dreamed of. You are all familiar with 
flowers, trees, leaves, stones, rocks, water, 
clouds, sky, and stars ; and yet science can 
show you, in the smallest as really as in the 
greatest of these, wonders of wisdom, power, and 
goodness which will amaze you. Henry Ward 
Beecher has said, " I used to think the Lord's 
Prayer a short prayer; but, as I live longer 
and see more of life, I begin to believe that 
there is no such thing as getting through it. If 
a man, in praying it, were to stop at every word 
until he had thoroughly comprehended and 
prayed it, his lifetime would be consumed. 
1 Our Father : ' there would be a wall one 
hundred feet high in just these two words to 
most men. ' Thy will be done : ' you say to 
f ourself, ; Oh ! I can pray that ; ' and all the 
time your mind goes round and round in im- 



22 THE MODEL PRAYEB. 

mense circuits and far-off distances ; but God 
is continually bringing the circuits nearer to 
you, till he says, ' How is it about your tem- 
per and your pride? How is it about your 
business and daily life ? ' This is a revolu- 
tionary petition. It would make many a man's 
shop and store tumble to the ground to utter it. 
Who can stand at the avenue along which all 
his pleasant thoughts and wishes are blossoming 
like flowers, and send those terrible words, ' Thy 
will be done,' crashing through it? I think it is 
the most fearful prayer to pray in the world." 

Look for a moment at its grand proportions, 
and you will see a justification of Mr. Beecher's 
words. 

Firsts we have our attention directed to the 
Being to whom prayer should be addressed, — 
to Giod, in the glory of universal fatherhood. 
Thus our Lord in a single utterance demolishes 
Atheism, which says there is no God ; and Pan- 
theism, which denies his personality ; and Posi- 
tivism, which at best ignores his existence ; and 
Epicurism, which teaches that God has no care 
for his creatures ; and Polytheism, which affirms 
that there are many gods. 



THE MODEL PBAYER. 23 

Next) we have three facts in relation to Him 
brought before us, — 

His name, 

His kingdom, and 

His will. 

Then, we have three truths descriptive of our 
own state, — 

Our physical necessities, 

Our spiritual needs arising out of our sins, and 

Our dangers. 

Finally, we have presented the sublime argu- 
mentative ascription which ought to go tip 
from all souls to God. 

It has been well said that " this prayer 
embodies a catholic spirit, developed in 6 Our 
Father ; ' a reverential spirit, in 4 Hallowed be 
thy name ; ' a missionary spirit, in ' Thy king- 
dom come ; ' an obedient spirit, in 4 Thy will be 
done ; ' a dependent spirit in ' Give us, this day, 
our daily bread ; ' a penitent and forgiving spirit, 
in ; Forgive as we forgive ; ' a cautious spirit, in 
6 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us 
from the evil ; ' an adoring spirit, in its sublime 
ascription, ; Thine is the kingdom, the power, 
and the glory, forever. Amen.' " 



24 THE MODEL PRAYER. 

II. The Origin and Design of the Lord's 
Prayer. — Strictly speaking, this is not his 
prayer; for he never prayed it, and indeed 
could not do so, because he was sinless. The 
prayer which he offered as his own is recorded 
in the seventeenth chapter of John's Gospel. 
That he alone could offer. It is emphatically 
his. This is his only in the sense of being 
originated by him, as part of his spiritual in- 
struction to us. As such, it is inestimably 
precious; for while prayer is an instinctive 
exercise of our moral natures, as well as the 
subject of a divine command, humanity has 
always felt it to be one of the most difficult as 
well as one of the most solemn services it ever 
tries to perform. Mankind have felt the need 
of guidance and instruction in order to pray 
aright; for we may pray wrongly, just as we 
may do any thing else wrongly. And herein is 
found the reason for the common failures in 
praying: " Ye ask, and receive not, because ye 
ask amiss." 

Accordingly, before the advent, numerous 
forms of prayer were in use among the Jews. 
Indeed, it came to pass that every great reli- 



THE MODEL PRAYER. 25 

gious teacher drew up prayer-forms for his 
followers. Hence we read, "that, as he was 
praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one 
of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us 
to pray, as John also taught his disciples." 

In compliance with this request, our divine 
Teacher pointed out what must be avoided in 
acceptable prayer. He specifically warns his 
disciples against the publicity, ostentation, repeti- 
tion, and "much speaking," which were so preva- 
lent in the prayers of Pharisees and Scribes ; 
and then added, " After this manner pray ye." 

It has been affirmed that this formula given 
by our Lord was merely selected from existing 
forms of Jeivish prayer. Such is not the truth. 
De Wette has well observed, that " it derogates 
in no way from the Lord's Prayer that it em- 
bodies and expresses devotional ideas which 
had been breathed into pious souls by the Holy 
Ghost, and used by them in prayer." Indeed, 
under the circumstances, this is just what we 
would expect. The fact is, that our Lord 
demonstrates the identity of true piety in all 
ages by gathering up and unifying the inspired 
petitions of the saints of the Old Testament, 



26 THE MODEL PRAYER. 

and casting them in the mould of his own 
divine mind, stamping them with the impress 
of his own originality, as the model of prayer 
for the saints of the New Testament. There- 
fore it is that we can trace the former use of 
each of these petitions singly, or of their dis- 
tinct ideas, — doctrines which are here embodied 
into one sublime whole. 

It may interest you to hear the direct proof 
of this. " Our Father who art in heaven : " 
in Isa. lxiv. 8 we read, " O Lord ! thou art our 
Father ; " in Eccles. v. 2, " God is in heaven." 
"Hallowed be thy name:" Psa. xlviii. 10, " Ac- 
cording to thy name, O God ! so is thy praise unto 
the ends of the earth." " Thy kingdom come : " 
Psa. xxii. 28, " For the kingdom is the Lord's : 
and he is the governor among the nations." 
" Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven : " 
Psa. xl. 8, "I delight to do thy will, O my 
God ! " Psa. ciii. 20, " Bless the Lord, ye his 
angels, that excel in strength, that do his 
commandments, hearkening unto the voice of 
his word." " Give us, this day, our daily 
bread : " Prov. xxx. 8, " Feed me with food 
convenient for me." " And forgive our sins: " 



THE MODEL PRAYER. 27 

Exod. xxxiv. 9, " Pardon our iniquity and our 
sin." "As we forgive those who sin against 
us : " Lev. xix. 18, " Thou shalt not avenge, 
nor bear any grudge against the children of thy 
people ; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self." " And lead us not into temptation : " 
Gen. xxii. 1, " Audit came to pass that God did 
tempt Abraham." " But deliver us from evil : " 
Psa. 1. 15, " Call upon me in the day of trouble ; 
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." 

" For thine is the kingdom, and the power, 
and the glory, forever. Amen." 1 Chron. 
xxix. 11, " Thine, O Lord ! is the greatness, and 
the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the 
majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in 
the earth is thine ; thine is the kingdom, O 
Lord ! and thou art exalted as head above all." 

We thus find the identical ideas, which are 
scattered disconnectedly through these and 
hundreds of similar passages, gathered up, and 
incorporated into this one brief, yet all-compre- 
hensive prayer. To the accomplishment of 
such a project, none but Immanuel was ade- 
quate. Just as in the production of a perfect 
plant or tree, God does not create new elements, 



28 THE MODEL PRAYER. 

but only combines those already existing, and 
produced by himself, so our Lord constructed 
the model prayer out of divinely originated 
doctrine, already familiar to his people, because 
they were all that were needed to that end. 

WHAT WAS OUR LORIES DESIGN? 

Did he purpose to initiate the use of set, in- 
variable forms of prayer ? Was this " the first 
instalment of a liturgy " ? Did he design to 
prepare the way for that custom, which so 
largely prevails, of. never offering any but 
written prayers ? Did he even intend that this 
prayer "should be perpetually used ? 

Instead of answering these questions directly 
myself, I prefer to present some facts, and leave 
you to answer them yourselves. 

1. On another occasion, recorded in the 
eleventh chapter of Luke's Gospel, our Lord is 
reported, by that evangelist, as giving the same 
prayer in substance, with important changes and 
omissions, which I shall notice at greater length 
hereafter. 

Does not this imply that he designed this to 
be " a model rather than a mould " ? 



THE MODEL PRAYER. 29 

2. In neither of the Gospels is there a record 
of this prayer having been used on a single occa- 
sion by any one of the disciples. 

3. On other occasions, he gave additional in- 
structions as to the matter of prayer. In noth- 
ing was he more explicit than in teaching that it 
must be offered in his name. 

" Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that 
will I do, that the Father may be glorified in 
the Son." " If ye shall ask any thing in my 
name, I will do it." " Hitherto, ye have asked 
nothing in my name : ask, and ye shall receive, 
that your joy may be full." 

Now, in the prayer before us, there is no allu- 
sion to his name at all ; and this fact, taken in 
connection with the above specific instructions, 
proves to my mind that he designed in it merely 
to give an illustration of the manner of accepta- 
ble prayer. 

4. In neither the Acts nor Epistles of the 
New Testament is there the record of the use 
of this precise form, or even of any allusion to 
it, or other forms. The learned Dr. Alford, 
himself devoted to a liturgy, says, " It ij very 
improbable that the Lord's Prayer was regarded 



30 THE MODEL PRAYER. 

in the very early ages as a set form, delivered for 
liturgical purposes by our Lord." 

5. It is affirmed, by those who have made the 
most thorough researches into ecclesiastical histo- 
ry, that such an expression as " reading prayers" 
is not found in the records of the first four cen- 
turies of the Christian era, and that the posture 
of primitive Christians would seem to make it 
an impossibility ; for " They stood with arms 
crossed on their breasts, their heads back, and 
their eyes often closed." Dr. Spring says, " The 
most eminent ritualist the Church of England 
has produced for an hundred years confesses 
that the public services of the primitive church 
were all performed extempore, or memoriter, 
and that no one office was reduced to writing 
until the fourth century." 

Justin Martyr, in describing the worship of 
the second century, says, that " The officiating 
minister offered up prayer and thanksgiving ac- 
cording to his ability. In the same century, Ter- 
tullian says, " We pray without a monitor, be- 
cause we pray from the heart." 

With these facts before us, I submit to you 
that our adorable Lord's design is obvious. He 



THE MODEL PRAYER. 31 

would illustrate the difference between the man- 
ner of spiritual prayer and the cold formalities 
which were so popular. They were obtruded on 
public attention : such must not be the method 
of true prayer. Jews generally prayed with 
their faces towards the temple ; while it was a 
common thing for Pharisees to arrange it so that 
their fixed times for prayer would find them on 
the corners of streets or other public places, 
where they " might be seen of men," during their 
devotions. They were ostentatious; the true 
prayer must be humble, reverential, and devout. 
They were vainly repetitious ; this must be com- 
prehensive, but sententious. They were long, 
employing "much speaking;" this must be 
brief and reverent. Thus our Lord warns 
against the two great evils in prayer, — the " vain 
ostentation of hypocrites," and " the vain repe- 
tition of the heathen." 

Behold, then, the Christ-model, " after " which 
our prayers should be formed ; the " manner af- 
ter " which we ought always to pray. • 

III. Meditate upon the unwritten history of this 
prayer. Eighteen hundred years have passed 
away since, on a hillside in Palestine, it fell 



32 THE MODEL PRAYER, 

from the lips of Him " who spake as never man 
spake ; " and, during all these centuries, it has 
been a mighty power among men. No other 
portion of the Bible has obtained such general 
acceptance as this. Other portions have been 
assailed by fierce criticisms, and have given rise 
to bitter controversies ; insomuch that it has been 
said, that the Bible is like the plains of Europe, 
— it has had a battle upon almost every chapter. 
But so slight has been the criticism on this ; so 
general has been its acceptance by all sects, all 
churches, orthodox or heterodox ; so impressed 
has the world been with its sublimity, beauty, 
breadth, and appropriateness to souls everywhere, 
— that, amid all ecclesiastical storms, wranglings, 
and oppositions, it, with unchallenged sacred- 
ness, has moved down the ages, like a sacred 
psalm, breathing blessings upon the generations, 
and constituting a point of almost universal har- 
mony and unity. In fact, time, change, prog- 
ress, development, only discover new richness 
and fresh adaptability to human needs in this 
inspired petition. 

Prof. Miiller, in his " Science of Language," 
says, " The Lord's Prayer was published in 1548 



THE MODEL PRAYER. 33 

in fourteen different languages by Bibliander ; 
in 1591, in twenty-six languages by Roccha ; in 
1592, in forty languages by Megiserus ; in 1593, 
in fifty languages, by the same author. 

Pope Pius IX. lately made a distinguished 
marquis of England a present of a copy of this 
prayer, printed in two hundred and fifty differ- 
ent languages and dialects. 

It has attracted the attention of both states- 
manship and scholarship throughout modern 
Europe and America. Dr. Williams says, "Co- 
querel, an eloquent Protestant preacher of 
Paris, a member of the Constituent Assembly 
which framed the last political constitution of 
that country, published, not long since, his 
discourses on ' The Lord's Prayer,' with an 
evident bearing, throughout his remarks, upon 
the theories of social reform which have been 
so eagerly and boldly presented by some of the 
thinkers of his nation." 

In England, numerous are the writings pub- 
lished upon this subject ; among the older of 
which are those of Jeremy Taylor, Barrow, and 
Leighton. 

Among the later is a volume by Rev. F. D. 

8 



34 THE MODEL PRAYER. 

Maurice, professor in King's College, London, 
and lecturer at Lincoln's Inn, — a' position which 
brings him in connection with the bar and 
bench, where are found some of the mightiest 
intellects of the realm. 

In Paulding's " Life of Washington," we are 
informed that his noble mother daily read to 
her household the " Contemplations of Sir 
Matthew Hale." That book has a long and 
interesting series of meditations upon the 
Lord's Prayer ; and it has well been said, that 
how much of the sobriety, balanced judgment, 
calm dignity, and stern religious virtue, which 
shone so serenely amidst the fierce conflicts of 
the Revolution from the character of our great 
chieftain, were due to the influences of those 
sweet, sacred reflections, only the revelations of 
the final day can disclose. 

Could the full history of mankind be truly 
written, it is believed that all would be amazed 
at "how much of earth's freedom and order 
and peace would be found to have distilled 
through quiet and secret channels from the full 
and exhaustless fountains of this single prayer. 
It has hampered the wickedness which it 



THE MODEL PRAYER. 35 

did not" altogether curb ; and it has nourished 
individual goodness and greatness in the emi- 
nence of which nations and ages have rejoiced.' ' 

Of its intrinsic power to arrest general atten- 
tion, and move the universal heart, we are poor 
judges, simply because of our familiarity with 
it, and our ignorance of its capabilities. In 
illustration of this, I give you the following 
incident, whose truth is vouched for by one of 
the leading journals of our country. 

In the palmy days of the great Booth, before 
his genius had been marred by dissipation, he 
was invited by a pious old gentleman in Balti- 
more to dine. The host, though disapproving 
of theatre-going, had heard so much of Booth's 
wonderful powers, that curiosity overcame his 
prejudices ; and his invitation was cordially 
given and accepted. After dinner, lamps were 
lighted, the company seated in the drawing- 
room, and Booth was requested as a special 
favor to repeat the Lord's Prayer. Slowly 
and reverently he arose, and became pale, while 
tears gushed to his upturned eyes. The silence 
was profound, almost painful ; until at last the 
spell was broken, as if by an electric shock, as 



36 THE MODEL PRAYER. 

his rich-toned voice, from white lips, Syllabled 
forth " Our Father which art in heaven," &c, 
with a pathos and fervid solemnity that thrilled 
all hearts. He finished. The silence con- 
tinued. Not a voice was heard from the rapt 
audience, until from the corner of the room a 
subdued sob broke the silence ; and the old 
gentleman tottered forward with streaming 
eyes, and, seizing Booth by the hand, in tremu- 
lous accents exclaimed, " Sir, you have afforded 
me a pleasure for which my whole future life 
will be grateful. I am an old man, and have 
repeated that prayer every day since my boy- 
hood; but I never heard it before, — never." 
" You are right," responded Booth : " to read 
that prayer as it should be read has cost me 
the severest study and labor for forty years; 
and I am far from being satisfied with my ren- 
dering of that wonderful production. Hardly 
one in ten thousand comprehends how much 
beauty, tenderness, and grandeur can be con- 
densed in a space so small, and in words so 
simple. That prayer of itself illustrates the 
truth of the Bible, and stamps upon it the seal of 
divinity." 



U 4 



THE MODEL PRATER. 37 

Perhaps the most pathetic passage in the vo 
luminous writings of Dickens occurs in " Bleak 
House," where he describes the death of poor, 
neglected " Jo." The dying boy exclaims to 
his companion, " ' It's turned wery dark, sir ! Is 
there any light a-comin' ? ' 
It is coming fast, Jo.' 
'Jo, my poor fellow ! ' 

" i I hear you, sir, in the dark ; but I'm a- 
gropin', a-gropin' : let me catch hold of your 
hand.' 

" ' Jo, can you say what I say ? ' 

" ' I'll say anythink as you say, sir ; for I 
knows it's good.' 

" ' Our Father,' — 

" ' Our Father : yes, that's wery good, sir.' 

" ' Which art in heaven,\ — 

" ; Art in heaven. Is the light a-comin', 
sir?' 

" ' It is close at hand. Hallowed be thy 
name.' 

" c Hallowed — be — thy ' — 

44 The light is come upon the dark, benighted 
way. Dead ! " 

Oh, what a history this immortal utterance 



38 TEE MODEL PRAYER. 

has had ! It has been uttered by the budding 
lips of thousands of children in every age ; and 
it is breathed from thousands of households 
every day. 

O man, my brother ! you may not pray at all 
now. Years and years may have passed since 
you bowed knee or soul before your God. Per- 
haps you sneer at prayer now; perhaps your 
lips are soiled by profanity now : but you can 
never, never forget, how, when you were a 
pure, innocent little boy, you knelt beside your 
mother's knee, and when, with her soft hand 
on your head, she taught you to say, " Our 
Father which art in heaven." 

This prayer has been offered by stalwart 
manhood, fair womanhood, and decrepit age. 
It has gone up to God from beneath the crown 
and the helmet, as well as the mitre. It has 
ascended from palaces and dungeons, as well as 
the home of poverty and the churches of 
Christ. It has been prayed in almost every 
clime, — from mountain-tops and from valleys, 
jungles and deserts, villages and cities, and 
from many, many points on seas and heaving 
oceans. From amid the perpetual ices of the 



THE MODEL PRAYER, 39 

north and the sweltering heats of the south, 
from the bamboo huts of the Orient and the 
log-cabins of the Occident, it has been wafted 
to heaven ; and in all the future of time, through 
the progress of the world and all the developments 
of humanity, it will hold its divinely-appointed 
place, and be the Christ-model of acceptable 
praj^er, immutable in its unity, inexhaustible in 
its variety, and universal in its adaptability. 

Such, friends, is the subject to which I shall 
ask your protracted attention. Could one have 
been selected embodying more of intelligent 
religious interest, or permanent profit ? Famil- 
iar as you may be with it, perhaps you have never 
made a study of it ; but I submit to you, that 
its intrinsic merit makes it eminently worthy of 
studious attention, and that it is due its divine 
Author and ourselves that we patiently inves- 
tigate it from the luminous stand-point of to- 
day. 








n. 



HIS FATHERHOOD. 




"<&ux JFatfjer fofjtcfr art in p!eaben." 

Matt. vi. 9. 




THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

" O Father-Eye, that hath so truly watched, 

O Father-Hand, that hath so gently led, 
O Father-Heart, that by my prayer is touched; 

That loved me first, when I was cold and dead ! ■ 
Still do thou lead me on, with faithful care, 

The narrow path to heaven, where I would go, 
And train me for the life that waits me there, 

Alike through love and loss, through weal and woe." 

MADAME DE STAEL, one of the most 
eminent of French women, has been 
quoted as saying, that "if the Founder of 
Christianity had done no more than to teach 
the human race to bow before one God, and all 
pray, ' Our Father who art in heaven,' he would 
have conferred an inestimable boon, and given 
proof of the divinity of his religion." 

It would be difficult to compress more truth 
in the same space than is here embodied. 
Such was the sublime ideal of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. He saw humanity disintegrated on 

43 



44 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

earth, and alienated from heaven. He saw in 
the darkened human mind false conceptions of 
God ; and, in the human heart, selfish isolation 
from its own kindred. Combining in himself 
both the divine and the human, profoundly in 
sympathy, therefore, with God and with man, 
he came to re-unite men with, each other and 
with their common Father. 

As one means of securing this end, he taught 
them to pray, " Our Father," &c. ; and the 
divine adaptation of this means to that end 
will impress us more and more as we study this 
sacred composition. 

Analyze with me the opening sentence, 
which alone is before us now. 

Observe the title we are here taught to 
ascribe to God. It is not Creator, Preserver, 
Governor, but "Father." How touchingly, 
tenderly, expressively beautiful ! This, I think, 
is the sweetest name, after "mother," in our 
language. It takes years of growth and of 
experience to enable us to comprehend, in any 
good degree, what " Father " means. 

Thus we have, at the beginning, the father- 
hood of God recognized. 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 45 

Next observe that we are taught to pray, 
not my, but " our Father." Here our selfish- 
ness receives its first rebuke. Thus our. Lord 
teaches us to acknowledge the brotherhood of 
humanity, and, when we pray, to place ourselves 
in vital relation to it and say, "Our Father" 

An old divine has said, "These two words 
comprehend the law and the prophets, inasmuch 
as this recognition of fatherhood in God implies 
love towards him ; and this recognition of brother- 
hood implies love to our neighbor as ourselves." 

Finally, we have the character and special 
residence of our Father revealed. 

" In heaven " implies both of these ideas. It 
reveals him as subject to none of the limitations 
and frailties which are necessarily associated 
with the best types of earthly fatherhood, — as 
" heavenly "in his nature and character. 

Moreover, with the idea of a father i$ con- 
nected the idea of a home ; and this phrase re- 
veals to us that his abode is not amid the 
mutabilities of this changing world, but amid 
the eternal immutabilities of heaven. And 
surely the Father's home ought to be the object 
of chief interest and desire to his children. 



46 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. . 

By this analysis, then, you see 
Divine Fatherhood recognized, 
Human Brotherhood acknowledged, and 
The Character and Home of the Father 
revealed. 

Rev. William R. Williams, D.D., in com- 
menting on these words, remarks, " They may 
be regarded as grouping together the three 
principles which settle man's just relation to 
this world and the next, — the filial, the frater- 
nal, and the celestial; for, though we are now of 
the earth, we were not originally from it, nor are 
we to be forever upon it. We are of heaven, 
and for heaven; for there, and not here, our 
Father is ; and, where he is, our true home is." 
By this method, you readily perceive that we 
have discovered by far too much truth for one 
lecture. I am therefore compelled to pass by 
all else, and speak to you only of the father- 
hood of Grod, and some of the truths which it 
involves. 

I. What in him constitutes his fatherhood? 
With every distinct divine title, distinct truths 
are associated. What are associated with this ? 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 47 

1. He is out Parent, — the Originator of our 
existence. He is " our Father," because " we 
are his offspring," — a fact which is affirmed 
of no other existences. Of us alone it is 
said with respect to God, that " he is the 
Former of our bodies, and the Father of our 
spirits." 

While mere creation does not necessarily 
involve fatherhood, still, of humanity, and of 
humanity alone, the Triune God said, " Let us 
make man in our image ; " and "in the image 
of God created he him." 

All other inanimate and animate forms were 
created after ideals in the divine mind ; but man 
was made in God's own likeness. Humanity 
came direct from Divinity, trace its origin back 
as far as you please. 

Human life is not, therefore, as some scientists 
of our day would make out, a mere develop- 
ment from lower phases of animate existence, 
but a direct creation, bearing the image of the 
Creator ; with a body erect, whose brow faces 
the sun ; and with a soul endowed, in a finite 
degree, with the very powers possessed by the 
divine Parent in an infinite degree. 



48 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

Verily, as to original endowment, every soul 
is divinity in miniature. 
Hence the poet sang, — 

" How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, 
How complicate, how wonderful, is man I 
How passing wonder He who made him such ; 
Who centred in our make such strange extremes ! 
From different natures marvellously mixed I 
Connection exquisite of distant worlds ! 
Distinguished link in Being's endless chain I 
Midway from nothing to the Deity ! 
A beam ethereal, sullied, and absorbed ! 
Though sullied and dishonored, still divine ! 
Dim miniature of greatness absolute ! 
An heir of glory ! a frail child of dust ! 
Helpless immortal ! insect infinite ! 
A worm ! a god ! " 

This transcendent fact invests our -humanity 
with imperishable interest. It encircles it with 
a glory that gathers not around a material 
world. Verily, whatever the color of his skin, 
whatever the nature of his circumstances, 
whatever the degree of his culture, whatever 
his moral character, every human being may 
look upon all other human beings, and say, 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 49 

" Have we not all one Father ? " Deny it who 
may, ignore it who may, the tremendous fact 
remains, that, as to origin and endowment, 
every man was " made in the similitude of 
God," and is a child of the All-Father. 

The story is told of the King "of Prussia, 
who, welcomed by the school-children, asked, 
" To what kingdom does this orange belong ? " 
— " Vegetable." — " To what does this gold 
coin belong ?"—■•" Mineral." — " To what 
kingdom do I belong?' The child waited a 
moment, and replied, " To God's kingdom, sir ; 
because God created man in his own image." 
The answer touched the king's heart. 

This corresponds with the universal confession 
recorded by Isaiah : " We are all unclean ; we 
do all fade as a leaf : but still, O Lord ! thou 
art our Father. We are the clay, and thou our 
potter ; and we are all the work of thine hand." 

2. With this title are associated ideas of 
provision for and protection over offspring. 

A parent who should withhold these, you 
would all say, was no father. 

" In Him we live and move, and have our 
being." Re built this world for our temporary 



50 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

dwelling-place. He fitted it up in order to 
administer to our necessities and enjoyment. 
All things above, beneath, around, were made 
for us. Hence each may sing, — 

" For me kind Nature opes her genial power, 
Suckles each herb, and spreads out every flower ; 
Annual for me the grape and rose renew 
The juice nectareous and the balmy dew ; 
For me health gushes from a thousand springs ; 
For me the mine ten thousand treasures brings ; 
Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise, — 
My footstool earth, my canopy the skies." 

And all this is merely the materialized 
thought of our Father's care for his children. 
It is his power acting upon dead matter, 
through laws of his own enacting, that "cover- 
eth the heavens with clouds, and prepareth rain 
for the earth ; " " maketh grass to grow for the 
cattle, and herbs for the service of man, and 
bringeth food out of the earth ; " causeth 
" his sun to shine upon the evil and the good," 
thus demonstrating, that " in his hands is the 
soul of every living thing, and the breath of all 
mankind," and justifying the title, given him 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 51 

thousands of years ago by the man of Uz, 
when with gratitude he exclaimed, " thou 
Preserver of man ! " 

How wonderful is his paternal providence 
over the world ! What prodigious power it 
must take to uphold all things in such marvel- 
lous equipoise ! What infinite wisdom it must 
require to maintain the precise proportions 
of the elements which constitute the air we 
breathe, and the water we drink, so as to keep 
them healthful, and preserve them from becom- 
ing deathful ! What constant supervision it 
must demand, in order to produce, in every lati- 
tude, just what is needed by his children who 
live there ! What a perpetual outflow of om- 
nipotence must be requisite in order to keep the 
complicated and delicate machinery of the world 
from becoming disordered, from wearing out, or 
breaking down ! Verily, in the richness of his 
providential provision for, and sheltering pro- 
tection of, mankind, he is " our Father." 

3. Finally, with this title is associated more 
than parentage or protection. It requires the 
idea of tender love and yearning interest in 
offspring to fill up our conception. 



52 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

He who should merely provide for and 
extend protection to children might be a 
parent; but he would not be worthy of the 
sacred name of father. 

Our heavenly Parent not only makes such 
ample providential provision for the necessities 
and comforts of his children, not only extends 
over them the broad protective shelter of his 
care, but he loves them, feels for them, 
with a depth of yearning solicitude which none 
but a God can feel. His works, his laws, his 
gospel, are the demonstration of the reality and 
tenderness of this. All the forms of pitying, 
sympathizing, appreciative affection found in 
the purest type of earthly . fatherhood are 
developed in his character and dealings with us, 
in measures beyond our full comprehension. 

These three ideas, then, 

Parentage, 
Protection, and 
Affection, 
constitute fatherhood in God. 

Pause now, and, combining these ideas, and 
applying them to the attributes of the divine 
nature, behold how resplendent fatherhood in 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 53 

him is ! Is lie spiritual and eternal, omnipo- 
tent and omniscient, immutable and immacu- 
late ? Is he infinite in love, justice, and truth ? 
O wondrous fact! then fatherhood impreg- 
nates, envelops, directs, and subordinates all 
these to its beneficent purposes. 

Think of the best human father in the 
whole world, — the most loving, the kindest, 
wisest, wealthiest, and most powerful ; and, 
precious, beautiful, noble as he is, what is he 
compared with our Father in heaven? Only 
what shadow is compared with substance, the 
temporal as compared with the eternal, the 
finite as compared with the infinite ! 

For myself, when I think of him merely as 
Creator, I am confused with ideas of omnipo- 
tence. When I think of him merely as provi- 
dential Controller, I am overwhelmed with con- 
ceptions of wisdom and general beneficence. 
When I think of him merely as Law-giver, su- 
preme Ruler, and Judge, I am inspired with awe ; 
but when Christianity reveals to me his father- 
A(w^, and teaches me that I and all my brothers 
and sisters, however poor, weak, and unworthy, 
may look up and pray, " Our Father which art in 



54 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

heaven," then my whole being is subdued, 
melted, until it penitently bows and adores. 

Krummacher relates the following fact, 
which is deeply interesting in this connec- 
tion : — 

" A Jew entered a Parsee temple, and beheld 
the sacred fire. He spake . to the priest : 
4 How ? ye adore fire ? ' — ' Not the fire/ 
answered the priest, ' it is the image of the 
sun, and its quickening light.' — ' Then,' asked 
the Jew, ; do ye worship the sun as your 
deity? Do ye not know that he is but the 
creature of the Almighty ? ' — c We know 
that,' replied the priest ; ' but sensitive man 
requires a sensible sign to comprehend the 
Highest : and is not the sun the image of the 
invisible and incomprehensible Fountain of 
Light, which sustains and blesses all things ? ' 
Then the Israelite answered : ' Do your people, 
then, discern between the image and the 
original? They call the sun their God, and 
descend from him lower still, kneeling before 
an earthly flame. You charm their opt ward, 
but blind their inward eye, and, whilst placing 
before them the earthly light, withdraw from 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 55 

them the heavenly. Thou shalt make no image 
or likeness.' 

" c How do you describe the Supreme Being ? ' 
asked the priest. 

" The Jew answered, 4 We -call him Jehovah - 
Adonai ; that is, the Lord, which is, which was, 
and which is to come.' 

" 4 Your word is great and glorious,' said the 
Parsee ; ' but it is terrible.' 

" Just then a Christian joined them, and said, 
; We call him Abba, Father.' 

" Then the heathen and Jew looked at one 
another with wonder, and said, ' Your word is 
the highest and nearest. But who gave you 
courage to call the Eternal thus ? ' 

" ' Who else,' said the Christian, ' but he, the 
Father himself?' Upon this he declared to 
them the mystery of the manifestation of the 
Fathej in the Son, and the word of reconcilia- 
tion ; and, as they heard this, they believed : 
and, raising their eyes to heaven, they spake, 
full of fervor and devotion, 4 Father, beloved 
Father ! ' And then they joined their hands, 
all three, and called themselves brethren." 



56 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

II. Truths involved in this doctrine. 

1. Fatherhood in him involves childhood in us. 
Most assuredly if he is " Our Father," we are 
his children. As we have seen what constitutes 
the former relationship, let us now inquire what 
constitutes the latter. 

By virtue of the facts that we are his off- 
spring, provided for by his providence, and are 
also the objects of his affection, a natural rela- 
tionship is established ; but I submit to you, that 
there may be — there often is — the mere nat- 
ural relationship of offspring between man and 
God without their possession of any of those moral 
qualities which go to make up the true character 
of children. There are human fathers and 
mothers — God pity them ! — whose hearts are 
full of bitter sorrow because their offspring 
neither exhibit nor possess any of the charac- 
teristics of true childhood. Mournfully they 
cry, " Our sons and daughters are no children 
to us." What do they mean ? What did our 
adorable Lord mean, when he said of certain 
Jews, " Ye are of your father, the devil; " and 
when he said to his own disciples, " Love j T our 
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 57 

them that hate you, and pray for them that 
despitefully use you, and persecute you, that ye 
may be the children of your Father ivho is in 
heaven"? or, when it is said, " He came unto 
his own, and his own received him not ; but 
unto as many as received him, unto them gave 
he power to become the sons of Grod, which were 
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
nor of the will of man, but of God ? " 

I answer, by calling your attention to the fact, 
that childhood stands for both a relation and a 
character, just as we have seen that fatherhood 
does. 

Let us now inquire what these elements are 
which constitute the character of children. 

1. Recognition of fatherhood. 

Is not this essential? Can you conceive of 
any one being worthy of the name of a child 
who voluntarily and habitually ignores his rela- 
tion to his parent ; and who, even when that 
parent is full of goodness, and is daily loading 
him with benefits, and manifesting the tenderest 
interest in his welfare ? Still suppose, that per- 
sistently, in thought and action, he lives as if he 
had no parent, — suppose such an one should 



58 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

thus not merely refuse to recognize the relation, 
and fail to develop gratitude in view of it, but 
in every way practically deny this relationship, 
— would you not all say, " He is no child " ? 

Nothing is more despicable than ingratitude. 
Hence Shakspeare makes King Lear exclaim, — 

« Ingratitude ! thou marble-hearted fiend, 
More hideous, when thou show'st thee in a child, 
Than the sea-monster." 

" How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is 
To have a thankless child ! " 

Is not this precisely true of mankind? Do 
they not voluntarily, habitually, and persist- 
ently ignore fatherhood in God ? Are there 
not multitudes who in their hearts say, " There 
is no God " ? and multitudes more whose phil- 
osophies deny both his personality and all 
present relationship on his part toward us. 
and, who, of course, never thank him for any of 
his mercies ? Of such, — and their name is 
Legion, — it is, alas ! true that they are " without 
God in the world." 

2. Love of the Father is another element of 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 59 

childhood. All must admit this. Is he worthy 
of the name of child who neither feels nor ex- 
hibits any affection for the author of his being ? 
But, suppose, that instead of possessing or ex- 
hibiting love for his good father, he should 
possess and exhibit hatred, opposition, antagon- 
ism toward him, — what then ? You say that 
would be horrible ; that would be not only un- 
childlike, but diabolical: yet this is precisely 
the case with our depraved humanity toward 
God. Is it not true, that, naturally, the " love 
of God is not in us ; " but that we find within 
us a dislike of his holiness, — in our u carnal 
minds " enmity toward his spirituality, and in 
our obdurate hearts rebellion against his will, 
which have made us " aliens," even " ene- 
mies " ? 

3. Submissive obedience is the last of these 
elements I care to mention. 

Who denies this ? No one will maintain that 
willing obedience to the righteous will of a 
righteous father is not essential to the character 
of a child. Then, solemnly I ask, how have we 
acted, in this regard, toward our Father ? Is it 
not consciously true, that mankind practically 



60 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

deny his authority, and that human nature, in 
all the ages, has said with Pharaoh, " Who is the 
Lord, that I should obey him " ? 

It is the testimony of every record of the 
past, that disobedience has characterized the 
whole history of our fallen race ; that God's will 
has been resisted, his law violated, his love 
spurned, his invitations slighted, his threat- 
enings disregarded. 

Thus we see that as, 

Parentage, 

Protection, and 

Affection, in Grod constitute his Father- 
hood, — 
so 

Recognition, 

Love, and 

Submission in us are requisite to constitute 
spiritual childhood. 

And so we reach two important truths, the one 
glorious, the other lamentable, viz., — 

Fatherhood has remained perfect in him ; but 
the character of childhood has departed from us. 

Hence that infinitely pathetic exclamation of 
our God, "If I am a Father, where is mine 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 61 

honor ? " " Hear, O heavens ! and be aston- 
ished, O earth ! for I have nourished and brought 
up children, and they have rebelled against 
me!" 

From these considerations, two conclusions 
follow, — 

First, oftentimes the Lord's prayer is offered 
by those who are incapacitated for more than a 
mere utterance of its words ; for they are utterly 
destitute of the characteristics of spiritual child- 
hood which are essential to its acceptable use ; 
and therefore it must be to him as " sounding 
brass," or " tinkling cymbal," — it must be 
sheer, heartless, cruel mockery of his father- 
hood. 

Next, the pressing need of a spiritual change in 
the human soul becomes apparent. 

Our divine Lord, we now see, did not utter 
an arbitrary command, but stated a spiritual 
necessity, when he said, " Ye must be born 
again ; " for by these words he only indicated 
such a change as would free our natures from 
their alienship and rebellion against him, and 
restore to them'that grateful recognition of love 
for, and submission to, "our Father," which 



62 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

constitutes spiritual childhood. Oh, what an 
era that is in the history of a human soul, when 
it is quickened to a realization of this truth ! — 
when it sees the necessity expressed by our 
Lord, who said, " Except ye be converted, and 

become as little children, ye shall not enter into 

* 

the kingdom. of heaven ! " 

In illustration of this, I give you a fact which 
transpired during the late war, in connection 
with members of our own congregation, the 
parties to which are our personal friends. An 
officer of the Troy regiment which was cap- 
tured at Harper's Ferry, while on his way with 
the regiment, which had been parolled, from 
Baltimore to Chicago, wrote the following to 
his devoted Christian wife : " Oh the grandeur 
of the Alleghany Mountains ! — the power of 
the Creator, as seen in their formation, and the 
still greater power displayed in the production 
of man, — a being capable of conceiving and 
executing the gigantic design of crossing these 
huge mountains by means of the subdued and 
controlled elements of fire and water ! I found 
myself in tears before this display of the works 
of the Deity. Then I read in my Bible of the 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 63 

wondrous works of the same God, and was 
again melted. But, oh ! I have seen the Deity 
in his mysterious majesty in Nature ; I have 
seen him presiding in gracious providence on 
the battle-field : but, alas ! / have not seen him 
as my Father, — I have not felt toward him as a 
child. Oh for the simplicity of faith, the 
character of a child ! God give it to me." 

Friends, the workings of Christian truth and 
grace produce exactly this experience : it 
makes us children in character ; its birth-cry 
is, " Father." So that, whilst creation at- 
tached us to God, and the fall detached us from 
him, regeneration re-unites us to him ; and 
when the spirit of adoption within us cries, 
" Abba, Father," then, oh, then, with an 
emphasis, a meaning, a fulness, a tenderness, a 
lovingness, we never dreamed of before, we 
tremulously but joyously exclaim, " Our Fa- 
ther which art in heaven ! " 

See you not now what the apostle meant 
when he said, " Ye are children of God, by faith 
in Christ Jesus; " and when he said, " God sent 
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under 
the law, to redeem those who were under the 



64 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

law, that we might receive the adoption of sons ; " 
and what mystery of grace he unfolded, when, 
in the Epistle to the Ephesians, he speaks of 
God's " having predestinated us unto the adop- 
tion of children, by Jesus Christ, according to 
the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of 
the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us 
accepted in the Beloved " ? 

Thus you see how scripturally truthful this 
sentence of Leighton is : " The sonship that 
emboldens us to draw near unto God, as our 
Father, is derived from his only-begotten Son. 
He became the Son of man, to make us anew 
sons of God." Because of our connection with 
him, we cry, " Doubtless thou art our Father, 
though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel 
acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord! art our 
Father, our Redeemer \ from everlasting is thy 
name." 

Another truth involved in this doctrine relates 
to the privileges which are associated with father- 
hood in God and childhood in us. 

All that was lost by the loss of our spiritual 
character is restored; for, " where sin abound- 
ed, grace doth much more abound." " The 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 65 

■ Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that 
we are the children of God ; and, if children, 
then heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." 
Freedom of access to him is ours at all times, and 
in all places. 

" We would no longer lie 
Like slaves beneath the throne : 
Our faith would ' Abba, Father/ cry, 
And then the kindred own." 

Special promises are ours. "I will be a 
Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and 
daughters, saith the Lord God Almighty." 
" Can a woman forget her sucking child, that 
she should not have compassion on the son of 
her womb ? Yea, she may forget ; yet will 
I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee 
on the palms of my hands ! " " Like as a Father 
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that 
fear him." 

Is there one among you who will not join me 
in exclaiming, " Behold what manner of love 
the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should 
be called the sons of God"? "Beloved, now 
are we the sons of God \. and it doth not yet 

5 



66 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

appear what we shall be : but we know, that, 
when he shall appear, we shall be like Mm ; for 
we shall see him as he is." 

" Beneath his watchful eye, 
His saints securely dwell : 
That hand which bears all nature up 
Shall guard his children well. 

" Why should an anxious load 

Press down your weary mind ? 
Haste to your heavenly Father's throne, 
And sweet refreshment find." 

Corregio stood before a grand painting, en- 
raptured; and as he gazed, grasping the 
sublime conception, amazed at the wondrous 
execution and coloring of the picture, ex- 
claimed, " Thank God ! I, too, am a painter." 
So, when a Christian looks steadily at what it is 
to be children of our Father, with sublime 
thrills of joy he can say, " Thank God ! I, too, 
am a child of the Lord God Almighty." 

O children of God ! let us recognize, love, and 
ohey ' our Father ' with our whole ransomed and 
renewed natures ! Let us submissively bow to 
his will, submit to all his dealings ; for " we 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 67 

have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected 
us ; and we gave them reverence. Shall we not 
much rather be in subjection unto the Father of 
our spirits, and live f They, verily, for a few 
days chastened us after their own pleasure ; but 
he for our profit, that we might be par- 
takers of his holiness." Among those who 
really are his children, there may and do 
exist different degrees of the child-spirit. Some 
are better " children," than others, — more con- 
stant in their recognition of dependence upon 
the fatherhood of God, more deep and fer- 
vent in their love, more implicit in their 
obedience. What hind of children are we ? 

Is our recognition of him dim and infre- 
quent ? Is our love faint and fickle ? Is our 
obedience spasmodic and unwilling? In his 
Epistle to the Ephesians, Paul says, " Be ye 
therefore followers (imitators) of God, as dear 
children, and walk in love as Christ also hath 
loved us, and given himself for us, an offering 
and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling 
savor." Who "dear children" are, we all know. 
And, while a parent loves all his children, 
still, do not such excite in him peculiar affec- 



68 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

tion ; and are not such sources of peculiar joy ? 
Let us not, then, beloved, rest satisfied with 
merely possessing the elemental character, but 
study, strive, and labor to become worthy of the 
title of " dear children" of our infinitely good 
Father. 

Finally, project your thought into the future, 
as you remember the purpose of " our Father " to 
gather all his children together in his own house 
of many mansions. His " family " is one. 
Verily, — 

" One family we dwell in him, 
One church above, beneath ; 
Though now divided by the stream, 
The narrow stream, of death. 

" One army of the living God, 
To, his command we bow : 
Part of the host have crossed the flood, 
And part are crossing now. 

K Some to their everlasting home 
This solemn moment fly ; 
And we are to the margin come, 
And soon expect to die." 

The chief priests in council, devising means 
to resist the triumphant Messiah, heard deeper 



THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 69 

truth than they dreamed of, when Caiaphas,the 
high priest, "prophesied that Jesus should die 
for that nation ; and not for that nation only, 
but that he also should gather together in one the 
children of Grod which are scattered abroad." 
They are scattered abroad over the whole earth 
now ; but he has been gathering them " together 
in one " heaven, — one Father's home, — during 
all the ages; and he has promised, " Fear not; 
for I am with thee : I will bring thy seed from 
the East, and gather thee from the West. I will 
say to the North, give up ; and to the South, 
keep not back : bring my sons from afar, and my 
daughters from the ends of the earth, — even 
every one that is called by my name ; for I 
created him for my glory. I have formed him ; 
yea, I have made him." 

Oh, transcendent purpose ! Oh, glorious, in- 
effable prospect ! Oh, gathering of gatherings ! 
when the saints of all ages in harmony meet, 
when the children all get home, when all are 
safely sheltered in the house not made with 
hands, — "the building of God, eternal in the 
heavens," — where " there shall be no more 
death, neither sorrow nor crying : neither shall 



70 THE DIVINE FATHERHOOD. 

there be any more pain ; for the former things 
are passed away, and they shall go no more out 
forever." 

" My Father's house on high ! 
Home of my soul ! how near 
At times, to Faith's foreseeing eye, 
Thy golden gates appear ! 

Ah ! then my spirit faints 

To reach the land I love, — 
The bright inheritance of saints, — 

Jerusalem above. 

Yet clouds will intervene, 

And all my prospect flies : 
Like Noah's dove, I flit between 

Bough seas and stormy skies. 

Anon the clouds depart, 

The winds and waters cease ; 
While sweetly o'er my gladdened heart 

Expands the bow of peace. 

I hear, at morn and even, 

At noon and midnight hour, 
The choral harmonies of heaven ; 

Earth's Babel-tongues o'erpower. 

Then, then, I feel that he, 

Bemembered or forgot, 
The Lord, is never far from me, 

Though I perceive him not." 



frtfrn*^ 



EI. 



HIS NAME. 




Matt. vi. 9. 




HIS NAME. 

" Him in whom they move and live, 

Let every creature sing ; 
Glory to their Maker give, 

And homage to their King. 
Hallowed be his name heneath : 

As in heaven, on earth adored. 
Praise the Lord in every breath ; 

Let all things praise the Lord." 

IN his work on the " Science of Language," 
Prof. Max Miiller says, " Analyze any word 
you like, and yon will find that it expresses a 
general idea, peculiar to the individual to which 
it belongs. What is the meaning of ' moon ' ? 
The measurer. Of 4 sun ' ? The begetter of 
earth. The primitive idea of a 4 name,' " he 
adds, " is preserved in our language, in the 
actual signification of the word. For name, 
and its kindred terms, — nomen in Latin, o-nom-a 
in Greek, and nama in Sanskrit, — are derived 
from a root, which is in fact the same as the 

73 



74 HIS NAME. 

English word to know." " Name," therefore, 
means that by which any thing or being is 
known. You readily perceive the relation of 
this quotation to the theme before us, " The 
name of God." It denotes his attributes, is 
identical with his character, stands for himself, 
is that by which he is known. 

All familiar with the Bible must remember 
how it everywhere hallows the name of the 
Deity. On Mount Sinai, " The Lord descended 
in the cloud, and stood with Moses, and pro- 
claimed the name of the Lord, — the Lord, the 
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, 
and abundant in goodness and truth." The 
Psalmist prayed, " The Lord hear thee in the 
day of trouble ; the name of the God of Jacob 
defend thee." " For thy name's sake, O Lord ! 
pardon my iniquity." " Do not abhor us, for 
thy name's sake." " We will remember the 
name of the Lord." " Save me, O God ! by 
thy name, and judge me by thy strength." " I 
will wait on thy name." " The name of the 
Lord is a strong tower." " They that know 
thy name will put their trust in thee." In 
Isaiah we read, " Behold the name of the Lord 



. HIS NAME. 75 

cometh from afar, burning with his anger." In 
Micah, fourth chapter, we read the remarkable 
words, " We will walk in the name of the Lord 
our God for ever and ever." 

In our Lord's memorable prayer, he ex- 
claimed, " I have manifested thy name to the 
men that thou gavest me out of the world." 
And when an apostle wrote, that Go.d the Fa- 
ther had given to his dear Son " a name that is 
above every name," we understand him to 
affirm, that the Father recognized the divinity 
of the Son, and the propriety of paying divine 
honors to him. 

With these scriptural references before us, we 
are prepared, I trust, to study the petition, 

Hallowed be thy name." 



;; 



I. Let us attend to its exposition. 

" To hallow " means to make holy, to conse- 
crate, to treat as sacred, to honor, and devoutly 
reverence. You perceive that this old Saxon 
term substantially means just what the more 
common word " sanctify " expresses. I think, 
however, that we are aided in getting at the 
radical signification of this word by a reference 



76 HIS NAME. 

to the Greek, of which it is a translation. Our 
Lord used the word " ayiuaOrftw" which is com- 
pounded of " a " negative, and the Greek word 
for " earth." Thus we see that its radical mean- 
ing is, "not of earth," — above the earth, exalted, 

magnified, hence religiously reverenced, held 
sacred, adored. 

Therefore our petition saith, "Hallowed be thy 
name ; " because, as we have seen, God's name 
stands for himself : it distinguishes him from all 
other beings and all imaginary gods. Moreover, 
a name often stands for character. " Socrates 
has almost no personality ; but he signifies philo- 
sophic common sense. Plato means pure thought 
and imagination ; Demosthenes, eloquence ; Cato, 
stern integrity ; Nero, cruelty; Napoleon, military 
genius ; Washington, patriotism ; Howard, philan- 
thropy; Graribaldi, the friend of the common 
people." Thus we see that names epitomize his- 
tories and characters. Accordingly we speak of 
some who have great, and of others who have 
small ; of some who have good, of others who 
have bad ; of some who have honored, of others 
who have dishonored, names. Such titles indicate 
the positions men occupy in society, in their 



HIS NAME. 11 

business, literary, political, and religious rela- 
tions ; and so it comes to pass, that in no way- 
can you harm a man more than by injuring his 
name. 

Shakspeare truly says, — 

" Good name, in man or woman dear, 
Is the immediate jewel of their souls." 

And Wordsworth as truly wrote, — 

" Who swerves from innocence, who makes divorce 
Of that serene companion, a good name, 
Recovers not bis loss ; but walks with shame, 
With doubt, with fear, and haply with remorse." 

But what specific name or title is here referred 
to, which, as the exponent of so much, is to be 
"hallowed"? 

In the opening phrase, a title had been applied 
to God which is intwined with the dearest 
associations of the human heart, — " our Fa- 
ther; " and, in the same sentence, he taught us to 
pray, "hallowed be thy name," — that name of 
the infinite God which bathes the whole array 
of his attributes in the mellowed glory, tender 
radiance, of fatherhood ! 



78 HIS NAME. 

Thus expounded, you see in this petition the 
first outgush of a soul, which, by the spiritual 
experience of Christianity, has become a child 
of God in character ; one who has received 
the spirit of adoption whereby he cries a Abba, 
Father ; " one in whom recognition of, love for, 
and submission to the divine fatherhood have 
been produced ; one out of the depths of whose 
nature, as spontaneously as perfume from a 
flower, or light from the sun, springs the ador- 
ing exclamation, " Hallowed be thy name ! " 
Finally, there is in it also a prayer, that by all 
beings, in all places, and at all times, this pre- 
cious name may be thus reverenced, honored, 
held sacred, adored, " hallowed." 

Dr. Isaac Barrow thus developed the meaning 
of this petition, " By a rare complication, this 
sentence doth involve both praise and petition ; 
doth express both our acknowledgment of 
what is, and our desire of what should be. 
We do, I say, hereby partly acknowledge and 
praise the super-eminent perfections of God 
above all things, in all kinds of excellency, 
joining in that seraphical doxology, ; Holy, 
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ! ' and we do 



HIS NAME. 79 

also declare our hearty wishes, that he may be 
everywhere had in the highest veneration ; that 
all honor and praise, all duty and service, may, 
in a peculiar manner, be rendered to him by 
all beings ; that all minds may entertain worthy 
opinions of him, — all tongues speak his praise, all 
creatures obey his will, adore his name, and wor- 
ship him in sincerity, with zeal and fervency.*' 

II. The propriety of this petition. The follow- 
ing considerations will, I trust, make this suffi- 
ciently apparent : — 

1. Natural justice dictates that fatherhood 
should be honored, hallowed, by childhood. 

Does it not ? Think of this relationship. 
The father is the author of the very existence of 
the child : he supports, sustains, and protects it 
during all the years of infancy and youth. His 
love for and interest in his offspring is deep, 
tender, self-sacrificing, and perpetual. Ought not, 
therefore, the child to honor, reverence, hallow, 
that father's name ? Verily, reason and con- 
science affirm that not to do so is unnatural, — a 
high crime against Nature. 

If this be so with regard to the merely human 



80 HIS NAME. 

relationship, how much more ought it to hold 
true in regard to our relationship to God, of 
whose fatherhood we have seen that the high- 
est earthly type is only a weak and imperfect 
shadow? 

We all feel that Shakspeare may be pardoned 
for the seeming exaggeration, when he says, — 

" To you, your father should be as a god ; 
One that composed your beauties : yea, and one 
To whom you are but a form in wax, 
By him imprinted, and within his power 
To leave the figure, or disfigure it." 

Then, assuredly, he who is (rod, and is our 
Father, ought to receive the highest veneration 
of which we are capable : his name ought to be 
44 hallowed " to the full degree of our capacity. 

2. He requires it. 

Nothing is more commendable in men and 
women, especially the young, than care for, 
watchfulness over, solicitude about, their names 
in the communities where they live ; for, as we 
have seen, their names are the exponents of 
themselves, — the indices of their reputations. 
Thus understood, as their names are held, so are 



HIS NAME. 81 

they honored or dishonored, influential or unin- 
fluential, sought or avoided. As are their 
names, so are their social, intellectual, financial, 
and moral positions, in general estimation. A 
dishonored name is one of Life's greatest calami- 
ties. Hence the wise man said, " A good name 
is rather to be chosen than great riches. ... It 
is better than precious ointment." 

Similar in nature, but infinitely greater in 
degree, is " our Father's " regard for his name. 
Therefore, amid the sublimities of Sinai, in his 
perpetual moral law, as one of the ten com- 
mandments, he wrote, " Thou shalt not take 
the name of the Lord thy God in vain ; for the 
Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh 
his name in vain." Hence, on other occasions 
he said, " I will sanctify my great name ; " " My 
name shall be great among the Gentiles ; " 
" How should my name be polluted ? " Jehovah 
thus explains his fearful dealings with Egypt, — 
" I wrought for my name's sake, that it should 
not be polluted before the heathen, among 
whom ye were, in whose sight I made myself 
known unto them, in bringing you forth out of 
the land of Egypt." " According to thy name, 

6 



82 HIS NAME. 

so is thy praise." " They that know thy name 
will put their trust in thee." 

To this attitude of the divine fatherhood, our 
adorable Lord appealed in his prayer, when he 
cried, " Father, glorify thy name ! " and we 
read in the twelfth chapter of John's Gospel, 
that, " Then came there a voice from heaven, 
saying, I have glorified it, and will glorify it 
again" 

Behold in all this the requisition of our God, 
and the depth of his desire that his name should 
be " hallowed " ! With it, his honor, his de- 
clarative glory, and his government are identi- 
fied. 

With such regard for " that by which he is 
known," with what righteous indignation he 
must have beheld that work of Bona venture, 
a cardinal of the Papal Church, who prepared a 
Litany for the Virgin Mary, by taking portions 
of the Psalms of the Bible, and substituting her 
name in place of that of Jehovah ! And yet 
the Romish Church has canonized Bonaventure, 
who thus sinned most grievously, insulted 
Deity most traitorously. The Lord God is a 
jealous God ; and he will not allow his glory to 



HIS NAME. 83 

be given to another. The vast interests of the 
universe demand that his name should be kept 
exclusively "holy and reverend." Jehovah 
hath sworn by himself, "As I live, the whole 
earth shall be filled with my glory ! " 

3. Our welfare demands it. 

In the realm of souls, as truly as in that of 
matter, there are established orders of cause 
and effect, antecedent and consequent. One 
of these connections is, that only as we have 
such knowledge of and love for God as our 
Father, as will lead us to hallow his name, shall 
we either properly appreciate or obey him. 
With this regard for his name, therefore, is 
associated submission to his will ; and, with 
such submission, all of our well-being for time 
and eternity is connected. So, also, just in the 
ratio that we thus hallow his name, in that 
ratio will we be impressed with himself, his 
character, his attributes, his authority, his 
righteousness, his love for us, his care over us, 
and the identity of his glory with our welfare. 
And just in the degree that our natures are 
thus impressed will our judgment bow to his 
decisions; our affections intwine about him, 



84 HIS NAME. 

and go out towards all tliat he loves ; our will 
sweetly yield to his will ; " our feet run in 
the way of his commandments ; " and our entire 
natures be conformed to his image. When, 
therefore, we hallow his name, we fundamen- 
tally promote our own highest good ; and, when 
we do not, we injure ourselves. 

" Oh, utter but the name of God 
Down in your heart of hearts, 
And see how from the world at once 
All tempting light departs ! " 

III. How we may " hallow " the holy name. 

1. By our words. 

What power there is in words ! How much 
you can elevate or depress, honor or dis- 
honor, a name, by what you say about it. by the 
manner in which you use it, by the tone of 
voice and expression with which you speak of 
it !' So, by never triflingly, but always rever- 
ently speaking the sacred name, in conversation, 
in prayer, and in hymns of praise, we honor, 
sanctify, hallow it. 

No chants of the olden time were more grand 
or more appropriate than those in which Jeho- 



HIS NAME. 85 

vah's name was magnified ; and the temple rang 
with the words, " Give glory due his name ; " 
44 Let us exalt his name together ; " 4t Praise ye 
the name of the Lord ! ' ! 44 Who shall not 
fear thee, and glorify thy name, O Lord ? for 
thou art holy." 

No promise is more explicit than this, 
44 Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of 
righteousness arise." This is an essential part 
of 44 the sacrifice of our lips," which is well- 
pleasing to our Father. 

And the spirit of this forbids all senseless 
repetitions, undue familiarity, and irreverent 
use of His name, either in conversation, prayer, 
or praise. Is there not occasion for attention to 
this point? Are there not many, 44 who are 
called by his name," who in their use of it 
employ the same familiarity as when speaking 
^of one who is their equal ? Do they not forget 
who he is, and what he is ? that " holy and rev- 
erend is his name " ? that 44 he is glorious in 
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders"? 
and that angels veil their faces before him ? 
The same spirit most emphatically condemns pro- 
fanity, which, instead of hallowing, desecrates 



.86 HIS NAME. 

his name. How lamentable the prevalence 
of this vice ! How inexpressibly sad to hear 
men, young men, and sometimes mere boys, 
indulging in this low vulgarity and abominable 
sin ! Dr. Chapin said truly, that, " Despite all 
refinement, the light and habitual taking of 
God's name betrays a coarse nature and a 
brutal will. Profaneness is an awful vice. 
Whose name is it you so lightly use? That 
name of God! Have you ever pondered its 
meaning ? Have you ever thought what it is 
that you mingle thus with your passion and 
your wit ? It is the name of him whom angels 
adore, and whom the heaven of heavens cannot 
contain ! " 

" Among the Hebrews, the name 4 Jehovah' 
was never pronounced, except by the high 
priest once a year ; and, in reading the Scrip- 
ture aloud, it was passed over in reverent 
silence, or the word ' Lord's substituted for it." 

" It chills my blood to hear the blest Supreme 
Rudely appealed to on each trifling theme/' 

Will you tell me what is more distressing to 
a spiritually intelligent mind than the evidence 



HIS NAME. 87 

that some young men think it manly, brave, 
smart, to swear ? Are such so ignorant that 
they do not know that profanity is vicious, that 
it is ungentlemanly, that the lower men descend 
in degradation the more they swear ? Do they 
not know, that, while other vices have pallia- 
tions, this has none ? Necessity often leads to 
theft ; revenge to murder ; and other sins plead 
strength of inclination, force of appetite, prom- 
ise of reward, or the power of temptation in 
some tremendous form. But what gain, what 
gratification, what pleasure, what conceivable 
benefit, can come to any one from the defiant, 
profane use of that name which angels speak 
only with adoring awe ! 

Young men, profanity is an unnatural, profit- 
less, low, Heaven-defying sin, — a sin of such 
magnitude that it violates the command which 
God put third in the order of the moral law, 
where he said, "Thou shalt not take the name of 
the Lord thy Grod in vain ; for the Lord will not 
hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." 
Why ! in many cases, even the heathen do not 
dare to use the names of their gods when they 
swear, but employ obscene words instead. 



88 HIS NAME. 

Blaspheming and cursing are the employment 
of devils. 

In " Washington's Orderly Book," uiyler date 
of April 3, 1776, the following is recorded: 
" The general is sorry to be informed that the 
foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing 
and swearing, a vice hitherto little known in an 
American army, is growing into a fashion. He 
hopes the officers will, by example as well as 
influence, endeavor to check it ; and that both 
they and the men will reflect that we can have 
but little hope of the blessing of Heaven on our 
arms if we insult Him by our impiety and folly : 
added to this, it is a, vice so mean and low, with- 
out any temptation, that a man of sense and 
character despises it" 

2. In our hearts. 

There may be no reverent, adoring, prayerful 
words spoken, and yet the heart, that life-throb- 
bing centre of our nature, may hallow His name. 
Such words are good, appropriate ; but they may 
be on the lips and only there. How many are 
satisfied with having " said " prayers, or " sung " 
hymns ! how many merely repeat the Lord's 
prayer! But " the Lord seeth not as man 



HIS NAME. 89 

seeth ; for man looketh at the outward appear- 
ance : the Lord looketh on the heart." His 
spiritual law says nothing about solemn words 
or tones of voice, bowing of the head or genu- 
flexions of the body ; it says nothing about im- 
posing ritualistic performances : but it says, 
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, soul, mind, and might." He must be 
worshipped in the " beauty of holiness." He 
says, " My son, give me thine heart ; " for " with 
the heart man believeth unto righteousness." 

Jeremy Taylor prayed, " Let thy name, 
thy essence, and glorious attributes be honored 
and adored in all the world, believed by faith, 
loved by charity, celebrated with praise, thanked 
with the eucharist ; and let thy name be hallowed 
in us as it is in itself." 

Cyprian said, " In praying this, we pray that 
his name may be hallowed in us." 

And when he is thus hallowed in our hearts, 
not only as Creator, Upbuilder, Controller, Law- 
giver, and Judge, but as our Father, — when he 
is loved as such, when his authoritative will is 
submitted to, — then his name is hallowed as it 
can be by no mere words. 



90 HIS NAME. 

Then sometimes the love and adoration of 
the heart become too great for words : no 
language can express them; but, though un- 
uttered, they rise to his fatherhood richer than 
the music of rolling spheres, or the songs of 
angels who never fell. 

Then is felt the tenderest concern for the 
divine glory, associated with the most sincere 
self-abasement. Luther felt this, when, near his 
death, he deplored and denounced the growing 
disposition to call the Reformation his work, and 
not God's. The same spirit was developed by 
Robinson of Leyden, when, bidding the Puritans 
farewell as they were about to go to the West- 
ern world, he warned them against the error 
which had made "the Lutheran refuse to go be- 
yond Luther, and the Calvinist beyond Calvin," 
and w^hich had gathered around those worthy 
names a glory and an honor which belonged only 
to the God whom both of them worshipped. 

Finally, by our lives. 

Reverent, adoring words, and reverent, ador- 
ing heart-emotions, hallow his name ; but the 
spheres of both of these are limited, — the for- 
mer to those who hear the words ; the latter to 
God, who alone seeth the heart. 



HIS NAME. 91 

There is a wider range of influence than that 
possessed by either of these ; viz., the sphere 
of our daily life. By it we tQUch the world, 
and exert our widest influence. If, through 
our spirit and by our conduct everywhere, we 
develop the character of children of God, then 
shall we best hallow the name of our Father 
who is in heaven. What so honors a good 
earthly father as to have his children grow up 
pure, pious, and noble ? What sheds such 
lustre on a parent's name as virtuous worth and 
deserved respectability in his children ? What 
brings such blood-red shame to a father's cheek, 
what so stabs to its centre a father's heart, 
what so bows in despair a father's head, 
what brings down his gray hairs in such grief 
to an untimely grave, as unworthy, wicked con- 
duct in his children ? 

But all this only shadows forth the similar 
emotions in the heart of divine fatherhood over 
sinful children, which are expressed in that in- 
finitely pathetic exclamation, " Hear, O heavens, 
and be astonished O earth ! for I have nourished 
and brought up children, and they have rebelled 
against me ! " " Why call ye me Lord, Lord, 
and do not the things which I say ? " 



92 HIS NAME. 

Allow me, in closing, to outline to you the 
thought already presented in this lecture. I have 
expounded to you this petition, demonstrated to 
you the propriety of it, and shown you how His 
name may be hallowed by lip, by heart, by life. 

May he who has taught us thus to pray, give 
us grace that will enable us to reduce this divine 
theory to faithful, constant practice ! Let us join 
in singing this rare old hymn by Thomas Cotteril. 

" Thee we adore, eternal Lord ! 
We praise thy name with one accord. 
Thy saints, who here thy goodness see, 
Through all the world do worship thee. 

To thee aloud all angels cry, 

And ceaseless raise their songs on high ; 

Both cherubim and seraphim, 

The heavens, and all that dwell therein. 

The apostles join the glorious throng; 
The prophets swell the immortal song ; 
The martyr's noble army raise 
Eternal anthems to thy praise. 

Thee, holy, holy Father, King ! 
Thee, thee, Lord God of hosts, they sing ! 
Thus earth below, and heaven above, 
Resound thy glory and thy love." 





IV. 



HIS KINGDOM. 




Gtfjg fttngtoom tome* 

Matt. vi. 10. 




HIS KINGDOM. 

" The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay, 
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away ; 
But fixed thy word, thy saving power remains, 
Thy realm forever lasts, thine own Messiah reigns." 

I WHAT is a kingdom f 
• It is not, of course, a democracy. That 
is a state in which the people exercise the pow- 
ers of sovereignty, either in their own persons, — 
as they did in the pure democracies of ancient 
Greece, — or in a republic, where sovereignty 
is lodged in, and exercised by, representatives 
elected by the people. Our country is a re- 
public. A kingdom exists where sovereignty 
is lodged in one person, — a king, — whose au- 
thority is with or without limitation. The ideal 
of a kingdom is, however, realized in an abso- 
lute monarchy. 

95 



96 - HIS KINGDOM. 

What, then, is the kingdom of God? 

In our classification, there are three kingdoms 
which belong to him. Of these, the first is the 
material, which includes all animate and inani- 
mate existence. Over that realm, in all of its 
minuteness and immensity, its unreached heights 
and unfathomed depths, its unmeasured lengths 
and breadths, by virtue of his creatorship, he 
is King. Hence the sublime exclamation of 
Nehemiah, " Thou, even thou, art God alone : 
thou hast made the heaven of heavens, with all 
their hosts ; the earth, and all things that are 
therein ; the seas, and all that is therein." In 
this realm, he is supreme ; his laws reach and 
control every thing : the shadow of his throne 
is projected over the entire material universe. 
Next, there is the kingdom of providence. This 
embraces the world of events, which constitute 
the material of history : over this, too, he is 
absolute Sovereign. " He worketh all things 
after the counsel of his own will." By his 
power and wisdom, he not only directs and 
controls all the operations of nature, but causes 
all the good wrought by men and nations, and 
so overrules all the evil as to make the wrath 



HIS KINGDOM. 97 

of man praise him, and to restrain the remainder ; 
while, through both, he consummates his own eter- 
nal purposes. With reference to this, we read, 
" The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, ' Surely 
as I have thought, so shall it come to pass ; and, 
as I have purposed, so shall it stand. I am God ; 
and there is none else : I am God ; and there is 
none like me, declaring the end from the begin- 
ning, saying, My counsels shall stand; and I 
will do all my pleasure.' ' In the grand chant 
of the ancient temple, — " The Lord reigneth, 
let the earth rejoice, and the multitude of the 
isles be glad," — we find a grateful acknowledg- 
ment of this universal truth. 

Besides these kingdoms of nature and provi- 
dence, there is another, — the realm of souls. Of 
this domain also he is lawful Sovereign, by 
virtue of creatorship and ownership. But, alas ! 
within it rebellion is broken out, which has 
dethroned him, and enthroned sinful selfishness ; 
which has despised his authority, dishonored 
his law, and defied his will. Hence we read, 
" The Lord looked down from heaven upon the 
children of men, to see if there were any that 
did understand and seek God. There is none 
7 



98 HIS KINGDOM. 

that understandeth, that seeketh after God : 
they are all gone aside ; they are altogether be- 
come filthy." " Madness is in their hearts." 
"The carnal mind is enmity against God." 
" They are all gone out of the way ; they are to- 
gether become unprofitable : there is none that 
doeth good — no, not one." " All have sinned, 
and come short of the glory of God." It is 
to the coming of his kingdom in this realm 
of rebellious souls, that the petition before us 
directly refers. 

The scriptural use of the phrase, "kingdom 
of God," may be thus analyzed. It is applied 
first to individual souls. We read, that when 
the Pharisees demanded " When the kingdom of 
God should come," our Lord answered them, 
and said, " The kingdom of God cometh not 
with observation : neither shall they say, Lo, 
here ! or lo, there ! for behold the kingdom of 
God is within you." He also compared it unto 
leaven, which a woman hid in three measures 
of meal ; to the mustard seed, and to treasure 
hidden in the field. We also read, that " The 
kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but 
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy 



HIS KINGDOM. 99 

Ghost." All of which statements are expres- 
sive of individual experiences. 

Next, this phrase is applied to that aggregate 
of human souls which constitutes the mystical 
body of Christ, — the spiritual, invisible Church, 
— with its doctrines, its varied organic and inor- 
ganic manifestations and influences in the world. 
Finally, it is applied to heaven, where is espe- 
cially located the throne, and are especially mani- 
fested all the ineffable insignia of divine royalty. 
Thus you see, that the phrase " kingdom of 
God " is applied in the Bible elementally to an 
individual soul, aggregately to the entire spirit- 
ual Church, and fruitionally to heaven. 

Leighton said, " The inward kingdom of 
grace is the way and preparation for that of 
glory; and the outward kingdom of grace, in 
the visible Church, is the means of establishing 
and increasing the inward : so that both of 
them look forward to the kingdom of glory 
as their utmost end, and shall terminate in it." 

II. Here an important question arises. Is 
God out of Christ, or God in Christ, King over 
the soul-realm ? 



100 HIS KINGDOM. 

In answering this, theologies differ, sects dis- 
agree, and mightiest controversial battles are 
fought. Let us seek to discover what the 
Scriptures teach concerning it. Understand 
that the question is this, Is the Deity, in his 
owa spiritual, infinite, inconceivable person- 
ality, King in this realm, or is he supreme there 
in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus 
Christ? 

Of old, this kingdom was so clearly prophe- 
sied and promised, that a delivering and reign- 
ing king became for ages the jubilant hope of 
the Jewish people. The same prophet who 
foretold the rise and fall of the Grecian and 
Persian Empires, and the extent and durability 
of the Roman power, predicted, that " In those 
days shall the God of heaven set up a king- 
dom which shall never be destroyed. And the 
kingdom shall not be left to other people; but it 
shall break in pieces, and consume all these 
kingdoms : and it shall stand forever."- " I saw 
in the night visions : and behold ! one like the Son 
of man came with the clouds of heaven, and 
came to the Ancient of days ; and they brought 
him near before him. And there was given 



HIS KINGDOM. 101 

him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that 
all people, nations, and languages should serve 
him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
which shall not pass away ; and his kingdom 
that which shall not be destroyed." 

Amid the glory of the Augustan era, the 
prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled, which had 
been uttered centuries before, " For unto us a 
Child is born, unto us a Son is given ; and the 
government shall be upon his shoulder : and his 
name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, 
the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and 
the Prince of peace. Of the increase of his 
government and peace, there shall be no end." 

The prophecies of Micah and Zachariah were 
also fulfilled, which predicted, " Thou Bethle- 
hem-Ephratah, though thou be little among the 
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he 
come forth unto me that is to be ruler in 
Israel ; whose goings forth have been from old, 
from everlasting." " Rejoice greatly, O daugh- 
ter of Zion ! for, behold, thy King cometh ! " 
With reference to the same person, we read in 
the second Psalm, "I have set my King upon 
my holy hill, Zion. I will declare the decree, 



102 HIS KINGDOM. 

— the Lord has said unto me, thou art my 
Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of 
me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine 
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
earth for thy possession." 

In accordance with all this, at the appointed 
time we behold the Lord Jesus assert the 
prerogatives of this divine royalty. Assuming 
the centre of the spiritual world, he proclaimed, 
" All things are delivered unto me of my 
Father ; and no man knoweth the Son but the 
Father : neither knoweth any man the Father 
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son 
will reveal him." " Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden ; and I will give you 
rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of 
me." " The Father judgeth no man, but hath 
committed all judgment unto the Son, that all 
men should honor the Son, even as they honor 
the Father." " I and my Father are one." 
" He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." 
" My kingdom is not of this world." Thence 
we behold him issuing laws, and performing all 
the functions of absolute spiritual kingship. 
Oh ! they plaited a crown of thorns in mock- 



HIS KINGDOM. 103 

ery around his sacred brow, not dreaming, 
poor, ignorant, sinful men ! that the incon- 
ceivably glorious diadem of the kingdom of 
God had already been placed there by the hand 
of the eternal Father. But, what they saw 
not, the spiritual vision of the penitent thief 
perceived, when with dying breath he prayed. 
44 Lord, remember me when thou comest into 
thy kingdom." What could be • more worthy 
of this sublime prerogative than the royal 
proclamation issued before his ascension? "All 
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 
Go ye therefore into all the world, and preach 
the gospel unto every creature ; and lo ! I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the 
world." Confirmatory is the inspired assur- 
ance, " That at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven and things in 
earth, and things under the earth ; and that 
every tongue should confess that Christ is 
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 
Therefore it is, that on his vesture and in his 
thigh is emblazoned the divine title, " King 
of kings, and Lord of lords" 



104 HIS KINGDOM. 

III. Every kingdom has laws, which embody 
the preceptive and prohibitory will of its king. 

We accordingly find that the New Testament 
of our Lord Jesus Christ is a code of laws, 
issued by his authority, embodying all the will 
of God concerning us found in the Old Testa- 
ment, together with new revelations and regu- 
lations appertaining to the perpetual spiritual 
kingdom. Friends, the world is full of specu- 
lations, reasonings, philosophizing about soul- 
duty. Men tell you what they believe, and 
what they disbelieve ; w^hat they think reason- 
able, and what they deem irrational; what they 
like, and what they dislike. But I submit to 
you, that the laws of a kingdom are found in 
its statute books, and that the duty of subjects 
is to ascertain and obey what is there required. 
Even so with regard to soul-duty: we affirm, 
that it is revealed in the law and testimony of 
our King, and that our duty and privilege is to 
seek for it there, and yield implicit obedience 
to it when found. This is the law-book of the 
kingdom of God; and I deny the right of 
minister or priest, of church or association, pres- 
bytery or synod, bishop, cardinal, or pope, to 



HIS KINGDOM. 105 

make any thing contrary to this, or in addition to 
it, binding on the human conscience. Inconceiv- 
ably vast are the issues which cluster around this 
doctrine at the present time. Two names stand 
before the public in connection with it most 
prominently, because they hold and advocate 
directly opposing views. One of these is Arch- 
bishop Manning of England, who, in a late 
address, said, " The Roman pontiff is the whole 
Church of God ; for it is all contained in him : 
and, where the head acts, all act with him." In 
another part of the same address, he puts the 
following language in the mouth of the pope : 
" I claim to be the supreme judge and director 
of the consciences of men, — of the peasant that 
tills the fields, and the prince that sits on the 
throne ; of the household that lives in privacy, 
and the legislature that makes laws for a king- 
dom. I am the sole, last, and supreme judge of 
what is right and wrong" 

The other is Pdre Hyacinthe, who, perhaps 
unconsciously, has written words almost identi- 
cal with those of Huss the martyr, uttered four 
hundred and fifty years ago. In one of his 
letters, we find the following passage : " I raise, 



106 HIS KINGDOM. 

therefore, before the holy father and the 
council, my protestation as Christian and 
preacher, against the doctrines and practices, 
calling themselves Roman, but which are not 
Christian. I appeal to thy tribunal, O Lord 
Jesus ! It is in thy presence that I write these 
lines. It is at thy feet, after having prayed 
much, suffered and waited much, that I sign 
them. I have confidence, that, if men condemn 
them on earth, thou wilt approve them in 
heaven. That is sufficient for me, living or 
dying" To that loyal utterance of fidelity to 
the only and ever blressed Potentate, I hear 
approving response from the throne itself. Oh ! 
if the Christian world would unite in such 
acknowledgment of the supreme kingship of 
Christ, and would submissively bow to his will, 
as revealed in the New Testament, then would 
Ephraim no more vex Judah, nor Judah vex 
Ephraim ; then would the now-divided sacra- 
mental host of God's elect be united in one : 
and over them all would float in glory the 
majestic banner, on whose ample folds the 
world would read, " One Lord, one faith, one 
baptism." 



HIS KINGDOM. 107 

IV. Kingdoms have characteristics peculiar 
to themselves. 

What are those of the kingdom of Gfod ? 

1. Lawful authority. Our King is no usurper 
of the throne. He did not tread his way to it 
over the rights of any beings. His is a legiti- 
mate monarchy. He is Sovereign by the 
highest and truest " divine right." 

2. Immaculate rectitude. Lawful authority 
among men may err. It often enacts unjust 
laws. Our King never made an unjust requisi- 
tion or prohibition. He is too wise to err, and 
too good to be unkind. He sitteth on the 
throne of his holiness ; and they who are 
nearest that throne evermore adoringly sing, 
" Holy and just are thy ways, thou King of 
saints." 

3. Almighty power. There may be among 
men lawful authority and spotless rectitude, 
without ability to consummate beneficial pur- 
poses. Our King hath " all power." He is 
able, therefore, not only to enact, but to enforce 
laws ; able to protect obedient, and punish dis- 
obedient, subjects ; able to defend his kingdom 
from intestine foes and foreign aggressors. 



108 HIS KINGDOM. 

Hence the grateful anthem, " We give thee 
thanks, O Lord God Almighty ! because thou 
hast taken to thyself thy great power, and hast 
reigned." 

4. Infinite love. If a government were one 
of lawful authority, rectitude, and power 
merely, it would command admiration, but 
never excite affection ; for it needs an exhibition 
of love to attract love. " God is love ; " and 
his creative, sustaining, and redemptive acts 
radiate with this essential characteristic of his 
nature. This is the fountain whence flow the 
streams of " long-suffering, goodness, and 
truth;" of "tender mercies and loving-kind- 
nesses ; " of " forgiveness and pardon." He is 
rich in mercy ; " for his great love wherewith he 
loved us." This is the reason why " Gracious 
is the Lord, and righteous ; yea, our God is 
merciful." 

5. Permanency and everlasting duration. 
How many and mighty kingdoms have dis- 
solved, and left not even wrecks behind ! " The 
throne of our God is for ever and ever." " His 
dominion is an everlasting dominion." What 
majesty, sublimity, and magnificence are em- 



HIS KINGDOM. 109 

bodied in this truth! Human thrones may 
totter, sceptres may fall, powerful governments 
be crushed, but " of the increase of his govern- 
ment there shall be no end." 

6. Ineffable glory. Of old it was prophesied, 
" They shall speak of the glory of thy king- 
dom." I have time merely to direct attention 
to the glory embodied in the perfect character 
of our King ; the glory of the principles of his 
reign; the glory of the methods by which he 
rules ; and the glory of the personal and col- 
lective, temporal and eternal, results of his 
government. 

V. We are now prepared, I trust, to fix 
attention directly upon the petition, " Thy king- 
dom come." 

1. Consider the nature of the petition. You 
now perceive that it is a prayer for the personal 
enthronement of God in Christ as supreme over 
our hearts ; his truths over our intellects ; his 
will over our wills ; his authority over our con- 
sciences ; and the subjection of all our powers 
to his commands. Thus understood, what 
solemnity gathers around this familiar petition 



110 HIS KINGDOM. 

which we have so often thoughtlessly uttered ! 
It asks for the dethronement of selfishness, pas- 
sion, and appetite, and the conformity of our 
entire nature to his holy will. Do we honestly 
desire this ? Can we now conscientiously offer 
this prayer ? Dare we offer it to the heart- 
searching God ? Can we truthfully say, — 

" The dearest idol I have known, 
Whatever that idol be, 
Help me to tear it from the throne, 
And worship only Thee ? " 

2. Consider the extent of this petition. Ob- 
serve that it has no word of limitation : it is, 
" Thy kingdom come," — come over all the 
departments of complex individual nature. 
Verily it asks, that " the shadow of the throne 
may be projected over the board where man 
daily feeds ; over the cradle, the school, and the 
ballot-box; over the shop and the railroad, 
the anvil, plough, and loom ; over all that min- 
isters to man's earthly comforts and corporeal 
needs as well as over the pillow where he lays 
down his throbbing head to die ; and over the 



HIS KINGDOM. Ill 

grave where he has left child, wife, or friend to 
moulder." And it extends to all human beings. 
It prays, — 

" Thy kingdom come to every heart ; 
In every bosom fix thy throne." 

Thus it embodies the essential missionary- 
spirit, the germ of that aggressive energy 
which proclaims " Christ for all the world, and 
claims all the world for Christ." It asks for the 
overthrow of all antagonistic powers, such as 
Judaism, Mahometanism, Heathenism, Roman- 
ism, and all other isms which oppose the sole 
and supreme reign of God in Christ over 
mankind. 

3. Consider the time to which this petition 
refers. " Thy kingdom come," — when ? 
What a vast amount of thought has been 
directed to, and volumes written upon, the 
nature of the kingdom of God, the millennium, 
and kindred topics ! How many theories have 
been propounded, and speculations published, 
concerning the time of the coming of the king- 
dom ! But look at the petition itself. Its tense 
is present. " Thy kingdom come," — come, 



112 HIS KINGDOM. 

come now ! Are we ready for this ? whether 
we are, or not, I briefly indicate some reasons 
why we ought to be. It is the rightful due 
of the divine King. He ought to have imme- 
diate possession of the realm which belongs to 
him in fact and by unquestionable right, the 
control of which has so long been usurped by 
his enemies. Moreover, it is the immediate 
duty of every human soul penitently and 
believingly to acknowledge his kingship, and 
lovingly submit to his sway. Verily, every 
soul in every nation on earth ought this moment 
to say, — 

" Welcome, welcome, dear Redeemer, 
Welcome to this heart of mine : 
Lord, I make a full surrender ; 

Every power and thought be thine, — 
Thine entirely, 
Through eternal ages thine." 

Finally, all the interests, individual and 
collective, material and spiritual, temporal and 
eternal, of all souls, demand it. 

Having now shown you what and when this 
kingdom of God is, that God in Christ is its 



HIS KINGDOM. 113 

king, six of its characteristics, the nature, 
extent, and time of this petition, I close this 
lecture, — 

1. With a word of exhortation. " Seek first 
the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and 
all other things shall be added to you." 

This is the first duty of every human being. 
It is first in importance, and ought to receive 
attention first in the order of time. With infi- 
nite condescension, King Jesus seeks admission 
into our souls, saying, " Behold, I stand at the 
door and knock! if any man will hear my voice, 
and open the door, I will come in to him, and 
will sup with him, and he with me. To him 
that overcometh" all obstacles within and 
without himself to my sovereignty, " I will 
grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I 
also overcame, and am set down with my 
Father in his throne." O friends ! it is decreed 
" that every knee shall bow," either voluntarily 
or compulsorily. I pray you, in Christ's stead, 
be reconciled to God : bow to the sceptre of his 
mercy, extended by the scarred hand of our 
lawful King. Ground the weapons of your 
rebellion, and penitently, believingly, and sub- 



114 HIS KINGDOM. 

missively acknowledge him as a loyal subject of 
his reign : and then, instead of being crushed 
beneath the triumphant car of the conquering 
Redeemer, you shall share in his glory ; and 
your voices shall join in the grand chorus of 
heaven and earth, " Hallelujah ; for the Lord 
God omnipotent r eigne th." 

Opposition to his kingdom is as hopeless as it 
is wicked. His kingdom ought to come, must 
come, and assuredly will come. Shall its final 
triumphs bury our hopes and souls in ruin ? 
Shall we be of those who must finally meet the 
Lord Jesus merely as victor and judge, and 
who shall hear him declare from the great white 
throne the sentence of everlasting banishment 
from hope and heaven ? 

2. A word of direction. 

If we pray, " Thy kingdom come," we must 
use the divinely-appointed means for its com- 
ing. 

The " word of the kingdom " must be circu- 
lated far and wide. Servants of the King must 
go wherever lost humanity has gone, and pro- 
claim " the good tidings of great joy " embodied 
in the gospel proclamation of mercy. We must 



HIS KINGDOM. 115 

cheerfully give of our money for the support of 
those who go far hence among the Gentiles to 
preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. We 
must nourish and cultivate the missionary spirit. 
We must be willing to submit to self-denials, in 
order more efficiently to aid it. The coming of 
the kingdom of Christ, in all the world, must be 
a chief object of thought, earnest desire, fervent 
prayer, and laborious effort. Our own lives as 
Christians must so beautifully exemplify the 
blessedness of the reign of Christ, that others 
shall be attracted, and led to bow to his mild 
sceptre. Precious truth ! every one may do 
something towards the establishment of Christ's 
kingdom in the world. To that mission each 
of us is ca]led, whoever we may be, whatever 
sphere we may occupy, whatever the degree of 
our talents, or amount of our possessions. This 
power have all the saints. If we suffer, we 
shall also reign with him. Nothing that we 
give or do for his cause is unknown or unno- 
ticed by him. With infinite appreciativeness 
he accepts it as having been done for or given to 
himself. He regards " the cup of cold water " 
and " the widow's mite." Oh ! then," 



116 HIS KINGDOM. 

" Rouse thee to tlds work of high and holy love, 
And thou an angel's happiness shalt know, 
Shalt bless the earth while in the world above ; 
The good begun by thee shall outward go 
In many a branching stream, and onward flow ; 
The seed that in these few and fleeting hours 
Thy hands unsparing and unwearied sow 
Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers, 
And yield thee fruit divine in heaven's immortal bowers." 

Finally, a word of encouragement. 

Beloved, the kingdom is coming. By night 
and by day, with every rolling year, through all 
the discoveries of science, the achievements of 
art, the diffusion of sound learning, the progress 
of true civilization, the spread of " the truth as 
it is in Jesus," the application of his principles to 
human life, — verily, despite the opposition of a 
rebellious " world " with its infidel philosophies, 
" the flesh" with its multiform sensualities, and 
w the devil " with all his tremendous power and 
malignant cunning, — the kingdom of God is 
coming. 

It is almost impossible for us to understand 
how much it hath already come. Our Christ 
hath already established his throne in millions 



HIS KINGDOM. 117 

on millions of human souls : his truths have re- 
constructed many human governments, laws, 
creeds, habits, and the names of half the nations 
of the earth. Yea, as Marvel sang, he has 

" Cast the kingdoms old 
Into another mould." 

It is quite impossible for us to conceive what 
triumphs, amidst apparently hopeless circumstan- 
ces, this kingdom has achieved. " The kings of 
the earth have set themselves together ; and 
the rulers have taken council together against 
the Lord and his anointed." The blood of 
martyrs has flowed like rivers. But slowly, 
steadily, the Messiah's kingdom has advanced, 
and is advancing, diffusing light and love, 
quickening and transforming energy, elevating 
and ennobling the race, reinstating mankind 
into their true relations to God and to each 
other. 

How significant the testimony which Napo- 
leon, the mightiest of modern conquerors, 
bore to this at St. Helena, when he mournfully 
said, " Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and my- 
self founded empires ! But upon what did we 



118 HIS KINGDOM. 

rest the creation of our genius ? Upon force. 
Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love ; and, 
at this hour, millions of men would die for him ! 
My armies have forgotten me even while living. 
Nations pass away, thrones crumble; but his 
kingdom remains. What a proof of the divin- 
ity of Christ ! With an empire so absolute, he 
has but one single aim, — the spiritual ameliora- 
tion of individuals, purity of conscience, the 
union to that which is true, which is the 
holiness of the soul. What an abyss between 
my deep misery and the eternal reign -of Christ, 
which is proclaimed, loved, and adored, and is 
extending over the whole earth V 

On the door of an old mosque in Damascus, 
which was once a Christian Church, but which for 
twelve centuries has ranked among the holiest 
of Mahometan sanctuaries, are inscribed these 
remarkable words, — 

" Thy kingdom, O Christ ! is an everlasting 
kingdom. Thy dominion endureth through all 
generations." This inscription remains unim- 
paired at the present day ; and it is a record in 
stone of the decree of the eternal Father, con- 
cerning his royal Son, whose gradual fulfilment 



HIS KINGDOM. 119 

past ages have witnessed, and whose perfect 
realization shall be attested to by all the " ages 
to come." 

Let this encourage your faith, O Christian ! 
inspire your zeal, and energize your efforts. His 
kingdom is coming : its victorious banners float 
on every breeze. " He shall have dominion 
from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends 
of the earth." Verily, wherever God's light 
shines, his truth shall shine ; wherever his wind 
blows, his spirit shall breathe ; wherever his 
water flows, his salvation shall flow ; wherever 
sin abounds, his grace shall much more abound. 
The crucified shall be universal conqueror. The 
brow that wore the crown of thorns shall wear 
the crown of all the earth. Heaven and earth 
shall yet ring with the grand acclaim, " The 
kingdoms of this world have become the king- 
doms of our Lord and of his Christ." Just be- 
fore his death, the good and great Dr. Owen said, 
" I am going to him whom my soul loves. I am 
leaving the ship in a storm ; but, while the great 
Pilot is on board, the loss of a poor under-rower 
will not be missed." In 1683, Martin Luther, 
amidst the most terrific storms of papal perse- 



120 HIS KINGDOM. 

cution, exclaimed, "I know that Christ reigns 
over this world ; and, in this confidence, I will not 
fear ten thousand popes" No wonder God's 
ancient people, amid their trials and discourage- 
ments, shouted, " How beautiful upon the moun- 
tains are the feet of him that bringeth good 
tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth 
good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, 
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." 
Blessed assurance, " He that is to come will 
come, and will not tarry" Join me in the 
prayer, "Even so; come, Lord Jesus, come 
quickly. 

" He is coming ; and the tidings 

Are rolling wide and far, 
As light flows out in gladness 
From yon fair morning star. 

He is coming ; and the tidings 

Sweep through the willing air, 
With hope that ends forever 

Time's ages of despair. 

Old earth from dreams and slumber 

Wakes up, and says, Amen. 
Land and ocean bid him welcome ; 

Flood and forest join the strain." 



k») W> v^julKjULT 1 *** 



HIS WILL. 




"&f)2 forili be trone in eartfj, as it is in fjeaben." 

Matt. vi. 10. 




HIS WILL. 

"I worship thee, sweet will of God I 
And all thy ways adore ; 
And, every day I live, I long 
To love thee more and more. 

He always wins who sides with God; 

To him no chance is lost : 
God's will is sweetest to him when 

It triumphs at Jbis cost. 

• I have no cares, O blessed will 
For all my cares are thine : 
I live in triumph, Lord ! for thou 
Hast made thy triumphs mine." 

THE Lord's Prayer is not a collection of 
disconnected sentences. Its petitions are 
logically and closely related, so as to constitute 
a unity harmonious and symmetrical. " Our 
Father which art in heaven " teaches us to filially 
acknowledge the divine fatherhood, and to cor- 
dially recognize the human brotherhood. " Hal- 
lowed be thy name " follows, because such adoring 
reverence is our first duty toward our Father. In 

123 



124 HIS WILL. 

" Thy kingdom come" we are next instructed 
to acknowledge his rightful sovereignty, and 
pray for its immediate and universal establish- 
ment. The petition before us now follows in 
logical sequence : for it is simply a devout re- 
cognition of the service due our Father-King, and 
the expression of an earnest desire that it may 
be rendered to him by all mankind. 

I am impressed that the subject thus pre- 
sented is of supreme importance ; that wrong 
views of it lie at the basis of all false theologies, 
and inure to the ill-being of souls, now and for- 
ever ; and, on the other hand, that right views 
of it lie at the foundation of all true theology, 
and of spiritual well-being both here and 
hereafter. Hear me patiently, candidly, and 
then decide as to whether my impression is cor- 
rect or incorrect. 

I. What is "the will" of any being? This 
term is used in three different senses. It is 
employed to denote the function of determina- 
tion, — the volitional faculty, by which the 
power of choice is exercised. It is also applied 
to the determination or choice made by this 



HIS WILL. 125 

faculty. Thus we apply the term " will " to 
the power of volition, and also to the act thus 
caused. But, in law, " the voluntary disposition 
of an estate by testament is called a will." 

Now, what is the will of Grod ? 

Primarily, it is that attribute of the divine 
nature by which he determines, chooses, either 
to do or not to do ; secondarily, it expresses 
what he has determined, decided upon; and 
finally, inasmuch as volitions are expressed by 
words, we apply it to the Bible because it is 
the " word of God," — the revelation of his 
will. 

Do you know the radical meaning of the 
common legal word " testament " ? It denotes 
an authentic instrument in writing, by which a 
person declares his will as to the disposal of his 
effects after his death. Thus defined, how full 
of meaning are the titles of our Bible, " the Old 
and the New Testaments " ! The two books 
which constitute the one are thus named 
because they are the authentic instruments in 
writing by which God has revealed his will to 
man. In the prayer for the coming of his 
kingdom, we are taught to acknowledge his 



126 HIS WILL. 

rightful sovereignty over the realm of souls. 
But our sense of justice leads us to expect that 
the infinitely righteous King would plainly 
reveal what his will concerning us is ; and this 
he has done in these inspired Testaments. 

Speculations concerning the basis and stand- 
ard of moral obligation have been almost 
innumerable. The most prominent of these, 
however, have made them to consist in agree- 
ableness to the fitness of things, or conformity 
to nature and right reason, or in the coincidence 
of our conduct with the perfect and the true, or 
in its tendency to promote public happiness. 
Paley affirms, that " whatsoever is expedient is 
right : " it is due him, however, to remember, 
that his view of expediency was very compre- 
hensive. The Holy Scriptures, which Newton 
affirmed contained "the profoundest philoso- 
phy," make short work of all these speculations 
by leading us directly to the source of all 
moral obligation, when they say, that sin is 
a transgression of the law, and that the law 
of which sin is a transgression is simply the 
revealed expression of the divine will. Thus 
the rule of obligation which philosophers have 



HIS WILL. 127 

tried to arrive at by circuitous and uncertain 
methods is .exhibited clear as the light in the 
petition, " Thy will be done." Dr. Clark 
truthfully said, " Governing according to law 
and reason, and governing according to will and 
pleasure, are, among men, the two most opposite 
forms of government ; while, with respect to 
God, they are but two different names for one and 
the same thing" 

The divine will is guided by infinite wis- 
dom, by eternal justice, and infinite goodness. 
Through our reason and conscience, he makes 
developments of his ever-righteous will; but 
through his word it is revealed so plainly, that 
" wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err 
therein." Here he speaks to us through proph- 
ets and inspired apostles, but chiefly through 
the revelations of his Son, of whom it is written 
" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God : and the 
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us ; 
and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the 
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
truth" 



128 HIS WILL. 

II. This petition assumes, that the will of 
God is not done on the earth. 

Here we must discriminate. The Testaments 
make a distinction in regard to the divine will, 
which is overlooked by many ; and that over- 
sight is the cause of much error. There are 
those who say, u God is almighty, and therefore 
is able ; he is all-wise, and therefore knows how 
to accomplish his own will." But these Testa- 
ments reveal that "will" in distinct depart- 
ments, as sometimes denoting what shall be, 
at other times what ought to be: sometimes it 
refers to the great plan, or purpose by which he 
controls the operations of nature, and the events 
of providence, according to the eternal choices 
of his absolute will. In Nature, he consum- 
mates it through laws, which are only the meth- 
ods of his operation, — by mere force, naked 
omnipotence. In Providence, he accomplishes 
it through the workings of great moral prin- 
ciples, which are directed, energized, and sus- 
tained by himself, " Whereby he makes the 
wrath of man to praise him, and restraineth the 
remainder." In Nature and Providence, there- 
fore, his will is done. In these spheres, " He 



HIS WILL. 129 

doeth his will in the army of heaven and among 
the inhabitants of earth ; and none can staj' 
his hand, or say, What doest thou?'' But his 
will concerning human souls is embodied in 
his spiritual laws, which are addressed to our 
spiritual natures, which he himself endowed 
with a will, not to be controlled by mere force, — 
a will whose freedom is essential to responsibil- 
ity, and which, therefore, may obey him or not. 

Older theologians express this distinction in 
the phrases, " God's will of purpose and his 
will of precept ; his will of control and of com- 
mand." 

Without amplifying upon this distinction fur- 
ther, I direct attention to a few illustrations 
of it. Our divine Master was foretold in Mes- 
sianic prophecy as saying, " I delight to do thy 
will, O my God ! " In the record of his earthly 
life, we find him declaring, " It is my meat and 
drink to do the will of him that sent me." 
When preaching in a private house, one came 
in, and said, " Thy mother and thy brethren 
stand without, desiring to speak with thee." 
Pausing in his discourse, he exclaimed, " Who 
is my mother, and who are my brethren ? " And 

9 



130 HIS WILL. 

he answered his own questions, by declaring that 
" Whosoever shall do the will of my Father 
which is in heaven, the same is my brother, my 
sister, and my mother." In his immortal Sermon 
on the Mount, he said, " Not every one that 
saith unto me, Lord, Lord ! shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will 
of my Father which is in heaven." 

In the same Testament we read of " doing 
the will of God from the heart ; " of " standing 
complete in all the will of God;" of living 
" not in the lusts of men, but to the will of 
God ; " of being, " not conformed to the world, 
but transformed by the renewing of your mind, 
that you may prove what is that good and ac- 
ceptable and perfect will of God." Among the 

« 
last declarations of the word we read, " Blessed 

are they that do his commandments, that they 
may have a right to the tree of life." " He that 
doeth the will of God abideth forever." 

With these explanations, is not that which 
this petition assumes fearfully true ? Is it 
not obvious that the will of God is not done on 
the earth? When men triumphantly say, 
" Who hath resisted his will?" and endeavor 



HIS WILL. 131 

to establish a fatalistic excuse for their sins, I 
answer, Your question is big with fallacy : you 
confound things that differ. That will, as ex- 
pressed in the laws of Nature or in the prin- 
ciples of Providence, none can resist ; but, as 
embodied in spiritual laws, all depraved souls 
can and do resist: reason, conscience, and 
observation unite with revelation in affirming 
this. I make no reference now to the out- 
wardly wicked, the vulgarly vicious, the drunk- 
en, licentious, profane, and abandoned, but point 
you to the world's ways of living, — the amuse- 
ments, the principles upon which most of its 
business is transacted and politics conducted, — 
as pregnant proofs that the will of God is not only 
ignored, but perpetually violated. Satan, that 
arch-foe of God and man, leads the world " cap- 
tive at his will." Selfishness reigns supreme in 
every unrenewed soul. Each knows, that when 
the law says, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy mind, might, and strength, 
and thy neighbor as thyself," he neither does this 
nor desires to ; that when our Lord saith, " This 
is the will of God, that ye believe on him whom 
he hath sent," he deliberately rejects Him ; that 



132 HIS WILL. 

when the Word saith, " He will have all men to 
be saved, and come to a knowledge of the 
truth," that an experimental knowledge of the 
truth as it is in Jesus, — which is God's only- 
method of saving men, — is persistently rejected. 
There are multitudes who profess to believe 
neither in the necessity nor reality of what is 
expressed in the familiar phrases, " experien- 
cing religion," " being converted," "becoming 
Christians,"' "a change of heart." Some de- 
clare it to be a delusion, — an unintelligent effect 
of fanatical excitement. Others, more observ- 
ant and candid, admit its reality, but affirm its 
incomprehensibility. Friends, the simple fact is, 
that it is merely an inward change, produced by 
the Holy Spirit and the truth, whereby the re- 
bellious human will becomes lovingly submissive 
to the divine will ; and the soul cries, — 

" I yield, I yield ; I can hold out no more . 
I sink, by dying love compelled, 
And own thee Conqueror." 

Verily, it is that change whereby he who all 
his life has been disobedient, recklessly careless, 
and defiantly opposed to God's will, penitently 



HIS WILL. 133 

exclaims, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
do ? " By all those in whom such an experience 
has never been realized, the will of God is not 
"done " at all; and alas! with regard to those 
who have realized it, the old native spirit of 
disobedience too often develops itself. Alas ! in- 
dividual and church histories abound in over- 
whelming evidence of this. The assumption of 
our petition is thus shown to be fearfully, 
mournfully, true. 

III. But why pray about this ? Reason, con- 
science, and revelation unite in affirming the 
duty of practical submission to God. All admit 
that his will ought to be done by us. Why, 
then, not immediately go to work and do it? 
Why make that a matter of prayer which ought 
to be attended to by ourselves ? This is both a 
proper and an important question. In answer- 
ing it, I refer you to some facts concerning our 
natures of which we are all conscious. Our souls 
are alienated from God: they are naturally 
rebellious, and indisposed either to submit to 
his authority or to perform his precepts. " The 
carnal mind is enmity against God : it is not 



134 HIS WILL. 

subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
be." We find our carnality refusing to leave its 
usurped throne, and fortifying itself there against 
the dictates of reason, the impulsions of con- 
science, the demands of interest, as well as the 
claims of God the Father, the entreaties of God 
the Son, and the strivings of God the Spirit. 
I tell you that there are many persons whose 
judgments are convinced of their duty to God, 
but who find within themselves a power of re- 
sistance stronger than reason and conscience 
combined, stronger than the power of the 
highest motives, stronger than their own voli- 
tionary power, which keeps them from forming 
and exercising a determining choice of God's 
will as their rule of life. 

Now, what is that ? 

O friends ! it is a depraved, alienated, selfish, 
sin-loving heart, whose power is such, that of our- 
selves we will never do the will of God. This 
is the reason why our Lord taught us to pray 
with regard to this matter, that he would 
" work in us both to will and to do." This is 
what the old theologians properly called the 
grace of obedience. Here, and here alone, is 



HIS WILL. 135 

efficient help for our poor, lost, depraved hu- 
manity, — the power of God's Spirit to do in us 
what we cannot do for ourselves. How precious 
is the promise, " If ye then, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts unto your children, how 
much more shall your heavenly Father give the 
Holy Spirit to those who ask him ! " Do you 
feel your need of this ? " Ask, and ye shall re- 
ceive." Augustine used to pray, " Give what 
thou commandest, and then command what thou 
wilt." 

This is God's method of making. He makes 
" his people willing in the day of his power." 
Thus read the promises of the new covenant : 
" I will put my law into their inward parts, and 
write it in their hearts." " I will put a new 
spirit within you ; and I will take the stony 
heart out of their flesh, and will give them a 
heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes, 
and keep mine ordinances, and do them : and they 
shall be my people ; and I will be their God." 
" Now the God of peace, who brought again 
from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great 
Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the 
everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every 



136 HIS WILL. 

good work to do his will, working in you that 
which is well pleasing in his sight." I submit 
to you, that this dependence is taught in the 
very form of our petition. Observe, it is not, 
" Let us do thy will," but " thy will be done ; " 
thus teaching our need of divine working in us 
as prerequisite to our doing of his will. This 
his people have always recognized ; and to it 
Isaiah gave expression, when he said, " Thou, 
Lord, hast wrought all our works in us." 

IV. This petition specifies the manner and 
degree in which His will should be done in the 
earth, — " as it is done in heaven." 

In a religious book which has had a large 
circulation, the following is recorded as a fact, 
which I find it difficult to believe, because such 
stories are ordinarily great exaggerations. It is 
there stated that a Sabbath-school teacher gave 
this question to her class, " How is the will of 
God done in heaven ? " She gave them a week 
to prepare individual answers. At the appoint- 
ed time, the following replies were given, each 
by a different member of the class: "It is 
done cheerfully ; " " Immediately ; " " Com- 



HIS WILL. 137 

pletely ; " " Unitedly ; " " Lovingly ; " " Un- 
weariedly ;" and "Without asking questions." 
If this really transpired, that must have been a 
remarkably well-instructed class. Baxter gave 
nearly the same answer in his " Poor Man's 
Family Book," where we read, that, " in heaven 
the will of God is done understanding^, sin- 
cerely, fully, readily, delightfully, unweariedly, 
and concordantly." 

Archbishop Usher, Baxter's contemporary 
and friend, in his " Body of Divinity," says, 
" The angels obey the divine will willingly, 
speedily, sincerely, fully, und constantly." 

This, doubtless, well represents the degree 
and manner in which His will is done by the 
spirits of just men made perfect, and the angels 
in heaven, who " rest not day and night, say- 
ing, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, 
which was, and is, and is to come." " They do 
his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his 
word." Every reason for thus doing it there, ex- 
ists for doing it here. Our loved ones who have 
gone from us thither — sweet babes, dear com- 
panions, and fellow- workers — are thus doing it 
there ; and so it ought to be done here. Expe- 



138 HIS WILL. 

rience and observation show that in the ratio 
that his will is done in the earth, this world be- 
comes like heaven. 

Let us not rest satisfied, therefore, without 
aiming at heavenly conformity to the "good 4 
and acceptable and perfect will of God." 

V. There is another application of this peti- 
tion, however, to which I now direct attention. 
All I have said thus far has regarded the divine 
will, in relation to action ; but this petition re- 
fers as well to the duty of submission to that 
will. In illustration of this, come with me to 
the Garden, just outside the wall of Jerusalem. 
It is night : beneath the umbrageous boughs of 
wide-spreading olive-trees, One is kneeling who 
always did the will of God ; but now he is 
called to submissively suffer it. His form trem- 
bles with agony; out of his quivering pores 
issue, as it were, great drops of blood. Hear 
that mournful cry which goes up to heaven out 
of that anguish-smitten heart, " Father, if it be 
possible, let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, 
not as I will, but as thou wilt." In this in- 
finitely pathetic scene behold our great example 
of unrepining submission to the divine will. 



HIS WILL. 139 

Ah, friends ! in all our life-paths to heaven 
by the way of Calvary, we are called to enter 
what, to us, are dark Gethsemanes of bereave- 
ment, sorrow, and suffering, where our fondest 
hopes are blasted, severe struggles are to be en- 
dured, loved objects to be given up, and, wrapt 
in white shrouds, shut up in closed coffins, and 
laid away in cold graves. Such is the will of 
God : " Whom he loveth he chasteneth, and 
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." 
Oftentimes his will comes athwart ours ; often- 
times he refuses to answer our prayers ; but 
he overrules the very things which we most de- 
plore for our greatest good. Augustine, speak- 
ing of his mother, who had prayed earnestly 
that he might be prevented from going to Italy, 
lest he should fall into greater sin, though, in 
fact, it became the means of his conversion, 
beautifully says, " God refused her once, to 
grant her what she had prayed for always." To 
this Shakspeare alludes when he says, — 

" We, ignorant of ourselves, 
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers 
Deny us for our good ; so we find profit 
By losing of our prayers." 



140 HIS WILL. 

Oftentimes He sends adversity, when we think 
we ought to have prosperity ; failure, when we 
think we deserve success ; darkness, when 
we desire light ; sorrow, when we pant for hap- 
piness ; small duties, when we think ourselves 
qualified for great ones ; contraction of sphere, 
when we sigh for enlargement. Oftentimes, 
thus, our pride is mortified, and we feel humili- 
ated. 

Oh, then to hear his voice saying, " Be still, 
and know that I am God ; " and to submissively 
respond, " Even so, Father, for thus it seemeth 
good in thy sight " ! 

A noble example of this is related in the rec- 
ord of the invasion of Rome by the Huns. A 
Christian bishop asked Attila who he was. 
The king replied, " I am the scourge of God." 
The bishop immediately rejoined, " The messen- 
ger of God is welcome;" and cheerfully sub- 
mitted to martyrdom, exclaiming that "he 
durst not oppose the scourge of God, remember- 
ing that he (God) scourged his beloved Son." 
In his official report of a great battle, the gene- 
ral commanding declared that the best man in 
the field that day was a soldier who had his arm 



HIS WILL. 141 

lifted up against an enemy, but who, on hearing 
the trumpet sound a retreat, checked himself, 
and dropped his arm without striking a blow. 
How sublime was the attitude of the old 
prophet, when, amid his last utterances, he 
averred before heaven and earth, " Although 
the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit 
be in the vines; the labor of the olives shall 
fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the 
flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there 
shall be no herd in the stalls ; yet I will rejoice 
in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salva- 
tion. The Lord God is my strength, and he 
will make me to walk upon mine high places." 

" God doth need 
Neither man's work nor his best gifts : who best 
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state 
Is kingly : thousands at his bidding speed, 
And post o'er land and ocean without rest. 
They also serve who only stand and wait" 

The hour cometh when for us all the springs 
of earth shall run dry ; when we shall lie down 
to rise no more, take our last look of this bright 
and beautiful world, gaze upon the faces and 
hear the voices of those we love most for 



142 HIS WILL. 

the last time ; when the cold death-dew shall 
gather upon our brows, and the pains of dis- 
solution tremble along our expiring nerves. 
Blessed, thrice blessed, he, who, amid all circum- 
stances of life and death, shall be able to say, 
" Not as I will, but as thou wilt ; not my will, 
but thine, O God ! be done." 

Friends, the happiest man on this round earth 
is he, who, through the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, can say, " The will of my Father in 
heaven is my will ; what he commands, I will 
endeavor to do ; what he forbids, I will refrain 
from doing ; what he calls me to suffer, I will 
submissively endure as designed for my greatest 
good and his glory ; and the daily prayer of my 
life shall be, ; Thy will be done in earth, even as 
it is done in heaven.' " That man is richer, hap- 
pier, than the wealthiest millionnaire, crowned 
king, or mitred priest, or he whose brow is 
wreathed with the world's proudest laurels. 

With our own beloved Whittier, let us sing, — 

" We see not, know not : all our way 
Is night ; with Thee alone is day. 
From out the torrent's troubled drift, 
Above the storm, our prayer we lift, 
Thy will be done 1 



HIS WILL. 143 

The flesh may fail, the heart may faint ; 
But who are we to make complaint, 
Or dare to plead, in times like these, 
The weakness of our love of ease ? 
Thy will be done ! 

We take with solemn thankfulness 
Our burden up, nor ask it less ; 
And count it joy that even we 
May suffer, serve, or wait for Thee, 
Whose will be done I 

Though dim as yet in tint and line, 
We trace Thy picture's wise design, 
And thank Thee that our age supplies 
The dark relief of sacrifice. 
Thy will be done ! 

And if, in our unworthiness, 
Thy sacrificial wine we press ; 
If, from Thy ordeal's heated bars, 
Our feet are seamed with crimson scars, — 
Thy will be done I 

Strike ! Thou the Master, we Thy keys, 
The anthem of the destinies ! 
The minor of Thy loftier strain, 
Our hearts shall breathe the old refrain, — 
Thy will be done ! " 





VI. 



DAILY FOOD 




" &ibe us tfjis tjag our trails brea&." 

Matt. v. 11. 

"flnbe us, lias fog trag, our trails toatr/' 

Luke xi. 3. 




DAILY FOOD. 



" O God of earth and air and sea 1 
The hungry ravens cry to thee ; 
To thee the scaly tribes that sweep 
The boundless bosom of the deep : 
On thee all living creatures call, 
Thou common Father, kind to all. 
Then grant thy servants, Lord, we pray, 
Our daily bread from day to day." 



Heber. 



THERE are men, it grieves me to say, who 
honestly disbelieve in Christianity. If 
one of them were to ask, what I hold to be 
among the strongest evidences of its divinity, I 
would make this twofold answer. First, the 
unselfishness exemplified in and inculcated by 
Christianity. Every other religion nourishes, 
develops, and promotes human self-esteem. 
Wh} 7 should it not be so ? Like produces like. 
Streams can rise no higher than their sources ; 
and, as every religion other than the Christian 
is the product of humanity, the influences thus 

147 



148 DAILY FOOD. 

set in motion can result at the most in nothing 
higher than human self-culture. On the other 
hand, Christianity, which claims to be a revela- 
tion from God, is proven to be divine, in that it 
sets forth an ideal of unselfishness which is 
truly superhuman and supernatural. It displays 
in the love of God, who spared not his only- 
begotten Son, an example such as effectually 
humbles the natural heart of man, and deprives 
it of all its self-conceit. While, secondly, this 
religion still more strongly asserts its divine au- 
thorship) in an elevation of the soul thus 
humbled to a spiritual likeness unto the God 
believed in, — a freedom, purity, and charity of 
nature not to be found under any other condi- 
tions of life. 

Consider, now, in what way these truths, 
which are among the strongest evidences of the 
divinity of Christianity, have been developed in 
the portions of the Lord's Prayer which have 
been already before us. 

Observe the tenderly beautiful exaltation of 
our humanity above the works or the word of 
God, the elevation of our souls even to himself, 
in the petition which leads us, as with the rever- 



DAILY FOOD. 149 

ent, loving, trustful spirit of true children, to 
pray, " Our Father which art in heaven, hallow- 
ed be thy name ; thy kingdom come ; thy will 
be done on earth as it is done in heaven." 
Surely that which thus uplifts fallen and alien- 
ated souls to God must be from God. 

Observe, also, the superhuman unselfishness 
of the spirit which prays for the honor, dominion, 
and service of its father God before it makes 
any allusion to itself, or offers a single petition 
on its own behalf. Oh ! in this strange self- 
abnegation, amid a world where to love self, 
acquire for self, enjoy self, and honor self, is 
ever the predominant tendency, my moral nature 
intuitively perceives, my reason is compelled to 
acknowledge, that which is more than human, 
that which is divine ; yea, I see God. 

In this prayer, all that we have thus far 
considered has led us away from self toward 
God. We now come to the human side of this 
petition, and are about to discover, that, to 
regard the glory of our Father as the first and 
chief end of our lives is not, by any means, to 
disregard or sacrifice our own true interests. 
Nay : the prayer saith no more of his name and 



150 DAILY FOOD. 

its sanctities, his kingdom and its triumphs, his 
will and its supremacy: but it proceeds to 
specify our bread, our sins, and our deliverance 
from evil. We are accordingly taught, first to 
pray for that by which our mortal life is sus- 
tained, — for the food by means of which our 
bodies are nourished. 

There are two ways of treating such a subject 
as this : by analysis, — the separation of the 
topic into its parts, and the consideration of 
these in detail ; and by synthesis, — the re-unit- 
ing of these elements, and the treatment of 
them as a whole. Both of these methods will 
be adopted in this discussion. 

I. Consider the following analysis of this peti- 
tion, — 

1. We are taught to pray for " bread" This 
term stands for all food needed by our bodies. 
Beza rendered it " sufficient to uphold and sus- 
tain our bodies." In the Syriac version, it is 
rendered, " the bread of our necessity." We 
are not taught to pray for delicacies or superflu- 
ous luxuries, which harm the digestive organs, 
foul the blood, weaken the nerves, and sow the 
seeds of disease and destruction in the body. 



DAILY FOOD. 151 

2. We are taught to pray for " our bread ; " 
not for that needed by others, or earned by 
them, but for that which comes honestly to us 
in the course of divine providence. 

3. We are taught to pray for " our daily 
bread" and thus, avoiding all inordinate anxiety 
about the future, to humbly depend day by day 
upon our Father's loving care. 

4. We are taught to pray, " Give us this day 
our daily bread; " not to demand it as a matter 
of right, or to claim it as the object of purchase, 
but to implore it as an undeserved bounty at his 
hands. 

5. We are taught to merge our personal 
wants in the collective needs of the great family 
to which we belong : " Give us (not me), give 
us (all of thy children in all circumstances) our 
daily bread." 

Finally, we are taught to pray thus every day, 
" Give us this day our daily bread." 

Having now treated this petition by analysis, 
let us combine its elements, and view them as a 
whole. 

II. This prayer assumes the existence of a di- 



152 DAILY FOOD. 

rect and immediate relation between Gcod as a 
cause, and our daily food as an effect. 

It is clear, that, in the world's thought and 
practice, such a relation is denied or ignored. 
But it is equally evident that our Lord, in 
teaching us to offer this prayer, assumed that 
such a relation is a positive reality. Let us 
look at some of the reasons which assist and 
confirm faith in regard to this subject. 

1. That there is such a connection between 
the Creator and the needs of the creature, we 
should expect on a-priori grounds. By this I 
mean, that if we admit that God is our Father, 
and that we his children are not self existent or 
supporting, our reason is compelled to infer that 
he who has made us thus dependent must have 
provided for the supply of our needs out of his 
own fulness. This being the case, the wants 
of our entire nature are under his care, and the 
body not less than the soul has a right to expect 
his bounty. As to the present and eternal in- 
terests of our immortal nature, which was in its 
spiritual capacities made in the divine image, 
we find it easy to believe that God has and will 
ever have an immediate concern for them ; but 



DAILY FOOD. 153 

for our frail and perishing bodies, their daily- 
material wants, we find it more difficult to 
assure ourselves that he has an equally direct 
solicitude. And yet the same reasoning which 
leads to belief in the former case of necessity 
justifies faith in the latter. 

It was with regard to just these lower and 
physical wants of our lives, that Jesus said, 
" Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have 
need of all these things ; " and he himself, be- 
fore working the miracle to supply human want, 
said, " I have compassion on the multitude, be- 
cause they continue with me now three days, 
and have nothing to eat." Human fatherhood 
cares for the bodies of the children committed 
to it. They are inexpressibly dear, and we 
find highest pleasure in protecting and provid- 
ing for them. And when we see how depend- 
ent their souls are upon the condition of their 
physical natures, we become conscious of an 
imperious duty, which receives impulsions from 
every instinct of our being, to make the amplest 
provision within our power for their necessities. 
God is our Father; and he thoroughly knows 
how, not only our mental growth, general de- 



154 DAILY FOOD. 

velopment, and happiness, but our ability to 
glorify him and do good to those around us, de- 
pend upon the supply of our physical needs, 
the full sustentation of our material natures. 

Our bodies are to be presented a " living sac- 
rifice ; " but they cannot live without food. We 
are enjoined to " glorify God in our body and 
spirit;" but we can do neither without "our 
daily bread." 

Assuredly, then, we are prepared to believe 
that there must be a direct relation between 
him and it. 

2. Our bodies are worthy of the divine care. 

There are two " isms " which I hold to be 
false. One is that mysticism which is so exclu- 
sively occupied with the spiritual nature that it 
ignores and dishonors the body, and which in- 
terprets our text and similar scriptures as 
referring merely to spiritual food. The other is 
that materialism which pays exclusive attention 
to the body, and ignores the deep necessities of 
the soul. The truth lies between these extremes. 
Both the spiritual .and physical parts of our 
being are alike from God. They are the two 
factors which enter into and compose the in- 



DAILY FOOD. 155 

dividuality of human nature. Both have needs 
corresponding with their characters. Both 
are embraced in the resplendent scheme of 
redemption. Both are worthy of their origin. 
We find it easy to admit this in regard to 
our spiritual natures, with their grand ca- 
pacities and magnificent possibilities, but fail 
to realize it in reference to the material part 
of our being. But I beg you to think of how 
worthy of divine origin and care our bodies 
are. A human body is the most complicated, 
delicate, wonderful, vitalized object in the 
world. It is a single system embodying many : 
it is a unit made up of an osseous, a muscular, 
a nervous, a circulating, a digestive, and a 
functional system, all combined in harmony, 
and endowed with the power of locomotion. 
Friends, no person can in any good degree com- 
prehend the mysteries of his own physical na- 
ture, and not exclaim, " I am fearfully and won- 
derfully made ! " None but a God could have 
designed and created such a marvellous com- 
bination of capacities, such a complication of 
mysteries, such powers of endurance, such 
adaptabilities to its complex object. It is the 



156 DAILY FOOD. 

earthly temple of the Holy Ghost. One of the 
inspired titles of our God is, " The Former of 
our bodies." He originated our recurrent neces- 
sities ; and, with these facts before us, we feel 
assured that he must sustain a relation to them, 
upon the basis of which the petition, " Give us 
this day our daily bread," can be intelligently 
uttered. 

3. Such a relation is assumed and taught in the 
Bible. 

In its first chapter, immediately after the 
record of man's creation, we read that " God said, 
Behold, I have given you every herb bearing 
seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and 
every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree 
yielding seed ; to you it shall be for meat." After 
the flood he declared to Noah, " Every moving 
thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even 
as the green herb. I have given you all things" 
Elsewhere we read that " He causeth the grass 
to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service 
of man. . . . These wait all upon thee, that 
thou mayest give them their meat in due season. 
That thou givest them, they gather. Thou 
openest thy hand, they are filled with good." 



DAILY FOOD. 157 

" Behold the fowls of the air ; for they sow not, 
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet 
your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not 
much better than they? . . . Therefore take no 
[inordinate] thought for your life, what ye shall 
eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your 
body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more 
than meat, and the body than raiment ? . . . For 
after all these things do the Gentiles [inordi- 
nately] seek ; but your heavenly Father know- 
eth ye have need of all these things. Seek ye 
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 
and all these things shall be added unto you" 
" What man is there of you, who, if his son ask 
of him bread, will give him a stone ? or, if he ask 
a fish, will give him a serpent ; or, if he ask an 
egg, will he offer him a scorpion ? If ye then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your 
children, how much more shall your Father which 
is in heaven give good things to them that ask 
him ! " " Nevertheless, he left not himself with- 
out witness, in that he did good, and gave us 
rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling 
our hearts with food and gladness." 

Such is the briefest possible outline of the 



158 DAILY FOOD. 

argument for the existence of the relation as- 
sumed in this petition. 

III. If, then, such a relation exists between 
our Father and our daily bread, what is its nature 
and extent ? 

That was a wonderful sermon which Paul 
preached on Mars Hill, when he had before 
him such an audience as even he had never ad- 
dressed before. There were the wisest people, 
the most subtle reasoners, the profoundest sages, 
the most learned teachers, and the most elo- 
quent orators in the world. Upon him were 
concentrated the sneer of the Epicurean, the 
statuesque derision of the Stoic, the • dreamy 
gaze of the Academician, the scowl of a super- 
stitious rabble, and the malice of bigoted Jews. 
But none of these things alarmed him. Nay, 
they merely aroused his consecrated genius to 
its sublimest effort, before which his hearers 
were as silent and dumb as the marble statues 
around them. I quote a few of his sublime 
utterances: " God that made the world and 
all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of 
heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples 



DAILY FOOD, 159 

made with hands ; neither is worshipped with 
men's hands, seeing he giveth to all life, and 
breath, and all things ; and hath made of one 
blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the 
face of the earth, and hath determined the 
times before appointed, and the bounds of their 
habitation. . . . For in him we live, and move, 
and have our being ; as certain also of your 
own poets have said, For we are also his off- 
spring." This is a sublime and truthful state- 
ment of our general relation to God. But the 
question before us now concerns the specific 
relation between him and our daily bread. 

1. Those secondary causes by which it is pro- 
duced are all of his creation and under his 
control. 

The skill, enterprise, and power of man are 
prodigious ; but I direct your attention to some 
great essentialities to the production of food 
which are beyond human control. Oh, what a 
delicate adjustment of all the elements of Na- 
ture is necessary, in order to make food a possi- 
bility ! What huge, circling worlds must be 
constantly upheld and wisely guided, in order 
to the necessary adjustment of heat and cold ! 



160 DAILY FOOD. 

What orbs must shine, vapors be formed into 
obscuring and rain-distilling clouds, tempests 
agitate, and zephyrs breathe ; what myriad pro- 
cesses in the vast laboratory of Nature must be 
kept in fitting action; what a nice proportion 
must be preserved in the gases which constitute 
the atmosphere, — in order to the production of 
a cup of cold water, a loaf of bread, and all the 
other necessaries of life ! Friends, if we had 
the power to trace the direct connection of our 
Father not merely in the origination, but in the 
preservation and vitalization, of all the secondary 
causes, of the material world, the veriest unbe- 
liever would be amazed, and exclaim, " Verily, 
in His hand is the soul of every living thing, 
and the breath of all mankind! " 

In one of Bishop Heber's parish sermons we 
find this beautifully illustrated in the following 
passage : " When we witness the many dangers 
which threaten the springing and the rising 
grain; when we reckon the opposing dangers 
of drought and moisture, of parching heat or 
pinching cold, the blights which may taint, the 
worm which may consume, and the other 
alarms which the husbandman feels and fears, 



DAILY FOOD. 161 

we cannot but perceive that something more 
than the industry of man is required, and that 
it is with good reason we are taught to ask our 
daily bread of God; since no day in the year 
can be found, in which his blessing is not 
needed, either to preserve the seed, or to pros- 
per the tender stalk, or to fill the ear, or to re- 
buke the mildew and the storm by which the 
maturer crop is endangered. And, when the 
food of many days is waving before our eyes, 
we can but feel an anxious joy, a solemn and 
in some degree mournful thankfulness, when 
we compare our unworthy lives with the un- 
bounded mercies of God; when we recollect 
how little and how seldom we have thought of 
him who careth for us continually, and tremble 
lest even now our sins should interrupt the 
stream of his mercy, and that the improper use 
which we too often make of plenty should even 
yet turn our abundance into hunger." Who of 
you can think of him " upholding all things by 
the word of his power," and directing all the 
processes of Nature so as to produce food for 
us, and not exclaim, with a greater than even 

good Bishop Heber, " Marvellous are thy works, 
11 



162 DAILY FOOD. 

Lord God Almighty, and that my soul knoweth 
right well! How precious are thy thoughts 
unto me, O God! how great is the sum of 
them ! if I should count them, they are more in 
number than the sand ! " 

A pastor in Edinburgh asked the ; children of 
his infant class, " Who gives you the bread you 
eat at dinner? ' Almost every voice answered, 
" Mother." Then he asked, " Who gave it to 
your mother ? " They answered, " The baker." 
" Who gave it to the baker ? "— " The miller." 
"And who gave it to the miller?" — u The 
farmer." — " And who gave it to the farmer ? " 
" The ground." — "And who gave it to the 
ground ? " Then, for the first time, the thought 
of the divine Provider flashed upon those young 
minds ; and with low voice solemnly they ex- 
claimed, " God ! " Alas ! are we not all just 
like those children, in that we think of all in- 
termediate instrumentalities and agencies before 
we think of the " Father of all our mercies " ? 

2. Our ability to use the means through which 
our daily food is obtained is from God. 

Multitudes overlook this fact entirely. One 
says, " I have physical strength, ability to work : 



DAILY FOOD. 163 

I understand the laws of nature, and can make 
it give me my daily bread." Another, " I have 
skill, enterprise, and industry, and can make 
money, by which I can purchase abundant sup- 
plies." Others with complacency point to for- 
tunes which they have amassed, and proudly 
boast of successes which have crowned their 
individual efforts. There is much truth in all 
these and similar expressions ; but there is an 
ignoring of fundamental truth. Such practi- 
cally forget that God is the " Father " of 
their spirits, and " Former of their bodies ; " 
that he endowed them with all their physical 
and intellectual powers ; that " the inspiration 
of the Almight}^ giveth them understanding ; " 
that they themselves are his creatures ; that 
the earth on which they stand, the air they 
breathe, the light which illumines their path- 
way, are all his. They forget that yon great 
sun, in whose unfathomed capacities there is 
ample room for thousands of worlds like ours, 
from which comes all our light and heat, by 
which all vitality is preserved, not only was 
created by him, but that " he causeth it to shine 
upon the evil and upon the good." They forget 



164 DAILY FOOD. 

that " he sendeth his rain upon the just and upon 
the unjust ; " that " every good gift is from 
above ; " that he " daily loadeth us with bene- 
fits ; " that all secondary agencies — chance, 
skill, judgment, friends, influence — are but 
the servants of the great Benefactor, bringing 
our blessings to us ; that they are the bearers 
of our cup, and not the fillers of it. Therefore 
the divine injunction, " Beware when thy 
herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver 
and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou 
hast is multiplied, lest thy heart be lifted up, and 
thou forget the Lord thy Grod, and say in thy 
heart, My power and the might of my hand hath 
gotten me this wealth." " Is it not he that 
giveth thee power to get wealth ? " " Who 
hath first given to the Lord, and it shall be 
recompensed to him again ? for of him, and to 
him, and through him, are all things" 

3. God gives us food by his providential bless- 
ing upon our right use of the means he has 
placed in our hands. 

There is a coincidence between the divine 
methods of nature, providence, and grace. In 
each of these departments he provides the 



DAILY FOOD. 165 

means, gives us ability and opportunity to use 
them, and then crowns our exertions with suc- 
cess. In each department he acts through estab- 
lished laws, and supplies our need through our 
conformity to them. 

One of these is our own industry. " In the 
sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy 
bread." " Six days shalt thou labor." " He 
that will not work, neither let him eat." If 
this law were obeyed, there would be a great 
deal of fasting throughout our country. He 
who will not work has no right to pray, " Give 
me this day my daily bread ; " for it is only 
through his own industry that God has prom- 
ised it. Verily he hath said, " The idle soul 
shall suffer hunger, and drowsiness shall cover a 
man with rags." " Seest thou a man diligent 
in business ? he shall stand before kings." " The 
hand of the diligent maketh rich, and shall bear 
rule." " Be not slothful in business." " Let 
him that stole steal no more ; but rather let 
him labor, working with his hands the thing 
which is good, that he may have to give to him 
that needeth." The Bible speaks of " the 
bread of violence and deceit." It says, " Stolen 



166 DAILY FOOD. 

waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is 
pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead 
are there, and that her guests are in the depths 
of hell." It is God's universal law that " He 
that walketh righteously, and speaketh upright- 
ly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, 
that shaketh his hands from holding bribes, that 
stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and 
shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, — he shall 
dwell on high ; his place of defence shall be the 
munitions of rocks ; bread shall be given him ; his 
waters shall be sure." 

And this divine arrangement is a blessing. 
Toil is a benefit to the toiler. It benefits him 
physically, and hedges him in from a thousand 
temptations. Plenty, without labor, is often a 
curse. The most fertile countries, where human 
needs are most bountifully supplied by least ex- 
ertion, are behind in all the elements of pro- 
gressive civilization. The most unproductive 
soils have reared the noblest men and women. 
Our Father really gives when requiring us to 
toil for his gift. In fact, he doubles the gift by 
not only supplying our daily food, but increas- 
ing both health and vigor of body and mind in 
our efforts to secure it. 



DAILY FOOD. 167 

Our own economy is another of these esiab- 
lished laws. Extravagance is a perversion, a 
wastefulness, an abuse of God's mercies. It is 
a positive sin. No extravagant person can 
acceptably pray " the Lord's Prayer." 

IV. Some of the religious lessons embodied 
in and taught by this petition. 

1. Daily recognition of our dependence upon 
" our Father." 

This obvious duty, which all admit, but 
which we are so, prone to neglect, is here asso- 
ciated with our daily food. How appropriate it 
is, that, when we partake of the gifts of Ms 
providence, we should remember the Giver ; 
that, when we partake of his " daily benefits," 
we should remember our constant Benefactor ! 
Thus a plain duty is made easy from this associ- 
ation. And this duty ought to be a precious 
privilege, lovingly, gratefully, adoringly per- 
formed with each recurrence of his providen- 
tial supply of our returning bodily wants. 
Thousands are living in utter neglect of this. 
Grateful acknowledgment, devout thanks, are 
never heard at their tables. Like animals of 



168 DAILY FOOD. 

the forest, which devour nuts without even 
looking whence they have fallen, such feed on 
God's mercies, and never look up to him. Are 
you living so? Then this petition is both a 
rebuke and a lesson to you. Live so* no longer. 
Nay, by praying for your " daily bread," honor 
Him who crowns your lives with loving kind- 
nesses and tender mercies ; . daily discharge a 
duty which will make these very mercies 
sweeter, richer. Solomon said, " Every man is a 
friend to him that giveth gifts." That is true in 
man's relation to his fellow-men. It is not true 
of mankind in their relations to God. Nay, 
multitudes who live upon his bounty never 
think of him, never acknowledge his goodness, 
never utter a word of gratitude to him. Nay, 
" God is not in all their thoughts." What will 
such do when they stand before him in judg- 
ment ? 

2. Moderation in our desires. We are here 
taught to pray for our " daily bread," not for a 
daily feast ; for what is needful for our healthy, 
vigorous physical sustenance, not for luxuries. 
Most of the diseases which afflict our country 
are induced by the variety, luxuriousness, and 



DAILY FOOD. 169 

unhealthiness of our daily food. By these, 
artificial appetites are generated, disease in- 
duced, and human life shortened. Our God 
would teach us to live simpler, and live better 
and longer. " Two things have I required of 
thee," prayed Agur : " deny me not them be- 
fore I die. Remove me far from vanity and 
lies ; give me neither poverty nor riches ; feed 
me with food convenient for me ; lest I be full 
and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord ? or 
lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of 
my God in vain." An eminent merchant of 
New York said to his pastor, " Sir, it has 
pleased God to give me a large share of this 
world's goods ; hut I have never dared to ash for 
more than my daily bread." " They that will 
be rich fall into temptation and a snare." 
Wealth gotten by such brings with it habits 
of self-indulgence, cherishes the pride of life, 
binds the soul to earthly things, blunts the 
moral sensibilities so much that our Lord 
declared that it was " hard " for such to enter 
into the kingdom of God. It intensifies god- 
lessness, and unfits for the high purposes of true 
life, both in this world and that which is to 



170 DAILY FOOD. 

come. " Godliness with contentment is great 
gain." He who has it can say, " Thou hast put 
gladness in my heart more than in the time 
when their corn and their wine are increased." 
Finally, this petition rebukes distrustfulness, 
lack of faith in the providence of " our 
Father." 

On the one hand, it forbids desiring too 
much; on the other, it forbids fear of having too 
little. It is sad that so many of his children 
nurse anxieties, brood over inordinate thoughts 
about the future, worry themselves about 
" what they shall eat, what they shall drink, 
and wherewithal they shall be clothed " on the 
" morrow." They trust implicitly for future 
spiritual good ; they rest upon the promises of 
needed grace in all coming exigencies of their 
mortal and immortal future ; but they fail to 
exercise an equal faith in regard to future tem- 
poral good. Is not this inconsistent ? Does it 
not reflect upon Him who taught us to pray, 
" Give us this day our daily bread"? Will he 
give the greater, and fail in the less ? Will he 
feed the " birds of the air," and let his children 
want ? Did " he spare not his own Son, but 



DAILY FOOD. 171 

delivered him up for us all? " and hath he not 
promised " with him to freely give us all 
things " ? Did he teach us daily to pray for our 
" daily bread," and will he not answer ? Do 
we not see him looking pityingly down upon us, 
and saying, " O ye of little faith ! wherefore do 
ye doubt ? " He fed Israel in the wilderness 
day by day. 

Believer, distrust, doubt, no more. Believe 
heartily in, and rely implicitly upon, your 
heavenly Father's providence. Faithfully con- 
form to his laws of industry and economy, love 
and serve him, cast your burdens on the Lord, 
commit your ways to him, and as surely as your 
Father is on the throne of nature, providence, 
and grace, so surely shall " thy bread be given 
thee, and thy water be sure ; ' ! as surely as 
necessities come, adequate supplies shall appear. 

" The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger ; 
but they that seek the Lord shall not lack any 
good thing" 




VII. 



FORGIVENESS OF SIN. 



~^g^§#-s^ 



^ni! fcrgtbe us our toots." 

Matt. vi. 12. 

'^LtxtJ forgtbe us cur sins." 

Luke xi. 4. 




FORGIVENESS. 

" Father in heaven, whose love profound 
A ransom for our souls hath found, 
Before thy throne we sinners bend : 
To us thy pardoning love 'extend.' * 

IN our study of the petition, " Give us this 
day our daily bread," attention was directed 
to our physical natures, and God's relation to 
the supply of their needs. The petition before 
us now conducts us within the material into 
the immaterial realm of our souls. In the preced- 
ing lecture, we saw something of the dignity, 
astonishing complications, and wonderful ca- 
pacities of the body, which make it worthy of 
Him who formed it, and of his providential care. 
But what is a frame, compared with the pic- 
ture it encloses, or a casket with the gem it 
holds ? What is the physical system, compared 

175 



176 FORGIVENESS. 

with the spiritual nature created by God in his 
own image, endowed with the very capacities, 
in a finite degree, which he possesses infinitely, 
— the mysterious spirit, which has depths be- 
yond human soundings and faculties, illimitable 
in their reach ; the spirit which is to survive the 
wreck of the body, and live during all the eter- 
nal years ? 

Into this soul-realm let us enter. Leaving 
the outward, passing through the veil of the ma- 
terial, let us solemnly, thoughtfully, and prayer- 
fully enter into the spiritual, out of which 
our Lord taught should go forth immediately 
after the petition, " Give," the penitential cry, 
" Forgive." 

St. Cyprian said, "After supply of food, 
next, pardon for sin is asked for, that he who is 
fed of G-od may live in Gcod* Thus provision 
is made not only for the present and passing 
life, but for the eternal also ; whereunto we 
may come if we receive the pardon of our sins, 
to which the Lord gave the name of "debts," 
saying, in the words of the parable, " I forgave 
thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me." 

This petition most properly succeeds the fore- 



FORGIVENESS. 177 

going ; for, what if we have all needed pltysi- 
cal good, and are left unpardoned, unsaved from 
sin ? Can material welfare minister to the 
necessities of the soul ? What if the body be 
clothed in purple and fine linen, if the soul is 
left clad in the filthy garments of unrighteous- 
ness ? What if the body fare sumptuously every 
day, if the soul is perishing from spiritual hun- 
ger ? Nay, beloved, we need forgiveness to put 
the crown on all providential gifts. The con- 
sciousness of a father's displeasure must always 
mar a child's happiness. Alas ! how many 
desire Him to "give," but never penitently pray 
him to " forgive." 

Three different words in this connection are 
employed to express substantially the same 
idea. These are " debts," " trespasses," and 
" sins." The two former are figurative expres- 
sions. The one represents sinners as the 
subject of undischarged obligations, and sin as 
delinquency. The other regards us as having 
gone over the bounds which he marked out for 
us to live within. " Sin" is the literal name 
for all violations of law. In praying the Lord's 
Prayer, I always use this last word, and say, 

12 



178 FORGIVENESS. 

" Forgive us our sms," because it is as scriptu- 
ral as the other terms. It is more comprehen- 
sive than they, since it includes both the idea 
of debt and trespass, with still wider applica- 
tions; and, finally, its meaning is simpler, and 
therefore better understood by all. I shall 
dwell upon the subject and the object of this peti- 
tion. 

I. Its subject is, " Our sins." 

What is sin against God ? I will not give 
you my own answer to this question, nor that of 
church catechisms or creeds, nor the answer 
of those philosophies which would heal the ills 
of our souls by medication, similar to that which 
a physician employs, who uses outward reme- 
dies to cure an inward disease. Nay, friends : 
I give you the answer of the Bible, — the 
oracle of God. It shall tell us precisely what 
sin against him is. It says " all unrighteous- 
ness is sin ; " and that " sin is a transgression 
of the law." Thus you perceive it teaches 
that sin is a condition of " unrighteousness ; " and 
also an act, a " transgression." Expressed in 
my own language, the Bible teaches that all 



FORGIVENESS. 179 

lack of resemblance to the divine character, and 
all violations of the divine law are sin. 

But what law is here referred to? Every 
thing in the universe, from the minutest to the 
vastest, is under law adapted to its nature. 
Our physical systems are under physiological 
laws, which reach to and control every particle of 
their fluids, every atom of their solids, and every 
function of their organs. Likewise our spiritual 
natures are under spiritual law, which our Lord 
sententiously expressed, when he said, " Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soiil, 
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; 
and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
This is the divinely adapted and established law 
over our spirits. Is it not holy, just, and good? 
Is it not something more than a mere arbitrary 
enactment? Do not reason, judgment, and con- 
science, sitting as a supreme court, decide that 
it is constitutional, arising out of the very 
organization of our natures, and their necessary 
relations to God ? Do they not affirm it to 
express our duty ? and do we not all feel that 
with conformity to it, is identified, not merely 
the divine glory, but our own present and 



180 FORGIVENESS. 

eternal well-being ? Now, have we obeyed this 
law? Understand my question. It is not 
whether we have been amiable or unamiable, 
charitable or uncharitable, honest or dishonest, 
in, our relations to our fellow-men. It is not 
whether we have violated physical, social, or 
civil law. Nay, it is, Have ive violated, trans- 
gressed, Grod's spiritual law, which requires that 
we should, love him supremely, love him with 
all our soul, all our mind, all our strength, and 
love our neighbor as ourselves, and love thus 
every moment of our conscious, intelligent 
lives ? O friends ! what answer do your 
souls make ? Mine replies that I have not 
done this for a single day in all my life. It 
makes confession of guilt. My consciousness 
affirms that I have not been conformed to this 
righteous law ; and that therefore I have been 
full of " unrighteousness ; " that I have per- 
petually disobeyed its just requirements, and 
therefore I am a "transgressor," a "sinner." 

What do your souls say ? Is there one of 
you who has loved God supremely, and your 
neighbor as yourself? Nay, not one of you all. 
"We have all sinned, and come short of the 



FORGIVENESS. 181 

glory of God." We are all hopelessly in debt, 
because of our failure to render to our Father 
his due. We are all guilty transgressors, in 
that we have gone over the bounds set for our 
desires, affections, and conduct. "If a man say 
he has no sin, he deceiveth himself, and the 
truth is not in him." If a soul be unconscious 
of sin, it is because it is "dead in trespasses 
and sins." " There is not a just man on earth, 
that doeth good and sinneth not." " Enter not 
into judgment with thy servant, O Lord ! for in 
thy sight shall no man living be justified '' 

Reflect now, I pray you, upon the following 
truths concerning " our sins." 

1. How great their number must be ! If we 
ought to have been righteous, and ought to 
have loved God supremely all our lives, and 
have not, then we have been sinful, and have 
sinned every moment of our responsible exist- 
ence. Who, then, can compute the number 
of his sins ? Who of us does not under- 
stand now what David meant when he ex- 
claimed, " Mine iniquities have taken hold 
upon me, so that I am not able to look up : 
they are more than the hairs of my head, there- 
fore my heart faileth me"? 



182 FORGIVENESS. 

2. Think of their essential nature. 

This may be learned from the descriptions 
given of sin in the Bible. These declare it to 
be " an evil and a bitter thing, which the Lord 
abhorreth." They term it " rebellion,'' 
" abomination," " robbery," " iniquity," " un- 
godliness," " filthiness," " disease." Verily, 
these declare sin to be so evil in character, so 
antagonistic to God and to our own well-being, 
that it is the only thing in the universe which 
he "hates." It separates man from God; and, 
unless removed, must necessarily make that 
separation eternal. 

Moreover, it is a fearful fact, that in the 
nature of sin there is self-perpetuating power. 
Its influence, like the ocean ripple, goes beyond 
human calculation ; but unlike that ripple, 
which grows fainter and sinks wider as the 
circle increases, that sin, which was like a mere 
ripple at first, enlarges until it swells into a 
wave, rising ever higher and higher, until ulti- 
mately it shall dash in black billows on the 
shores of eternity. 

3. Think of the guilt of "our sins." The 
guilt of the violation of any law depends upon 



FORGIVENESS. 183 

the dignity and importance of the law violated ; 
and inasmuch as God's law over our souls is not 
only the best, the highest of all laws, but is 
essential to the very existence of moral govern- 
ment, therefore violations of it are crimsoned 
with the greatest turpitude. In view of this, 
who of us does not exclaim, Alas ! verily, we 
are inconceivably guilty sinners. " If thou, 
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who 
shall stand ? " 

4. Remember the penalty of sin. Law is 
made up of two elements, precept and penalty. 
Both of these are essential to it. Precept 
without penalty is mere advice. Penalty 
without precept would be injustice. Both con- 
stitute righteous law. We have seen what the 
precept of God's law is; what is its penalty? 
Both Testaments give the same answer, " The 
soul that sinneth, it shall die ; " " The wages 
of sin is death." But how can a soul die ? 
Only by being separated, banished from God, 
the source of spiritual life. And this penalty 
is not a merely arbitrary or legal enactment ; 
nay, we know that sin naturally produces two 
effects, — it propels the soul from God, and God 



184 FORGIVENESS. 

from it. But what can be more fearful than 
this separation of a soul from the only source 
of spiritual life and blessedness, from the 
favor of God, leaving it exposed to his disfavor, 
and to all the consequences arising out of being 
left to itself, to the friction of its own faculties, 
the remorse of its own conscience, the despair 
of its own prospects? Oh! for a soul thus to 
be banished and expelled from God into an 
ever-increasing moral distance from him, there 
must be the unrelieved blackness of " outer 
darkness." God is " good and doeth good ; " and 
"his tender mercies are over all his works." 
But goodness may punish, nay, it must punish 
badness. A good law urges its penalty against 
the violator ; a good judge executes it ; and 
they do this most certainly, because they are 
good, and because the interests of all depend 
upon the execution of righteous laws. Sin, 
therefore, cannot go unpunished. The very 
nature of the Being sinned against forbids it. 
His holy, just, and righteous law, which up- 
holds the moral universe, forbids it. The best 
interests of all mankind forbid it. Sin must 
and will be punished. The righteous penalties 



FORGIVENESS. 185 

of God's law will be executed. He will " by 
no means clear the guilty." " The ungodly 
shall not stand in the judgment." " Upon 
the wicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brim- 
stone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be 
the portion of their cup." " The Lord knoweth 
how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judg- 
ment to be punished." " The heaven and earth, 
which now are, by the same word are kept in 
store, reserved unto fire against the day of judg- 
ment, and perdition of ungodly men." " These 
shall go away into everlasting punishment;" 
" Shall be punished with everlasting destruction 
from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of 
his power." 

II. The object of this petition, "forgive us 
our sins." 

In teaching us to pray for forgiveness, our 
divine Lord assumed that of ourselves we could 
do nothing towards either compensating for or re- 
moving " our sins." Did he not? If we could 
have done any thing in those essential directions, 
would he not have told us what to do, and how 
to do it ? If such were a possibility of human 



186 FORGIVENESS. 

nature, he knew it better than any one else ; 
and, knowing it, he would have directed our 
attention to it as our first duty. But, with his 
thorough knowledge of our condition and capa- 
bilities, and with the most yearning interest in 
our salvation, he urges us to at once plead 
guilty, and implore mercy. 

And yet how many there are who persist in 
trying to do something else with reference to 
their " sins " ! Gne says, " Well, I know I 
have not been conformed or obedient to the law 
of God ; but I will make up for it in being very 
kind, verjr benevolent, very charitable, very use- 
ful, to my fellow-men." Friend, that has been 
merely your life-long duty towards them : how 
can such a resolution compensate either for 
failures in that direction in the past, or for past 
and present sins against God ? How can love 
for man be a substitute for supreme love to 
God ? Another says, " Well, I know I am a 
sinner : I have done a great many things I ought 
not to have done, but hereafter I will live a 
strictly moral and upright life." Friend, that 
has been your duty always ; but the law re- 
quires that you should love God with all your 



FORGIVENESS. 187 

soul. How can the performance of a lower 
duty compensate for a life-long failure in per- 
forming a higher one? Another says, " I see the 
wretched fallacy of all talk like that ; and I in- 
tend hereafter to love God supremely, and not 
sin against him any more." Friend, suppose 
you could, — that would be merely your duty with 
reference to the present and the future, — what is 
to become of the innumerable sins of the past ? 
But, alas ! you cannot do as you propose. The 
depravity and enervation of your spiritual nature 
render it, if left to yourself, an impossibilit} 7 . 
The fact that a prisoner, who is arraigned for a 
crime, solemnly promises never to commit it again 
is not allowed in any court as a substitute for the 
penalty of crime already committed. Another 
says, " Of course that is all true : I am not so 
weak as to deceive myself in those ways. I 
believe that sin ought to be punished, and that 
I suffer the penalty whenever I do wrong." 
Friend, if you are punished for your sins, you 
need no forgiveness. You, therefore, can never 
pray the Lord's Prayer. You need no Saviour : 
you are your own saviour. You need no mercy, 
for you endure the penalty. If your view is 



188 FORGIVENESS. 

right, you need no pardon from God : you are 
legally justified. " If righteousness come by the 
law, then is Christ dead in vain." If you reach 
heaven on that basis, you can never join in 
singing there, " Not unto us, but unto thy name 
be all the glory, for thou hast redeemed us unto 
God by thy blood." Nay, you shall stand solitary 
and apart, wrapped in the robe of self-righteous- 
ness, your only possible utterance being, " Unto 
myself be all the glory, because I endured the 
penalty of the law against my sins, and am 
under obligations to no one." Oh ! can it be that 
heaven shall ever hear such a strain ? Verily not. 
Such is not the teaching of Christianity, but in 
direct opposition to it. Nothing can be plainer 
than its affirmation that " by the deeds of the 
law no flesh can be justified." 

" Though justice be thy plea, consider this, 
That, in the course of justice, none of us 
Should see salvation." 

In tbe early ages of Christianity, Apollonius, 
a philosopher of Tyana, whom some of that 
time tried to set up as a rival to the Christian's 
Christ, in one of his speeches exclaimed, "0 



FORGIVENESS. 189 

ye gods, give me my dues!" But our divine 
Lord taught his followers to pray, " Forgive us 
our sins ;" and herein consists the distinctive 
difference between the divine and all human 
systems of morals and religion. 

Behold, here, a mystery, an anomaly, in the 
government of " our Father who is in heaven." 
If we violate his natural laws, he never for- 
gives us. We must suffer the prescribed pen- 
alty, however painful and distressing it may be. 
Our ignorance of those laws and their penalties 
is not admitted as an excuse for their violation. 
Nay ; as surely as the lightning-flash follows 
the thunder-peal, so surely penal consequences 
follow all violation of natural laws. And 
so inevitably settled is this arrangement, that 
we are not encouraged in the Bible even to 
pray for deliverance from such penalties ; and 
yet, with regard to our violations of his great 
spiritual law, we are specifically taught, and 
warmly encouraged, to pray for their forgive- 
ness. Why, oh, why! is this? Why does the 
holy, just, good God refuse to forgive violations 
of natural, and yet proffer pardon for sins 
against the spiritual law? Both are his laws. 



190 FORGIVENESS. 

Both in their spheres are important ; and the 
spiritual is higher than the natural. Do you 
answer, He forgives " sins," because " God is 
love," — he is infinite in mercy ? Then, I ask, 
why does he forgive in the one case, and not in 
the other ? Friends, there is only one solution 
of this mystery, one answer to this question. 
That was given by our Lord, when he uttered 
the immortal words, u Grod so loved the world, 
that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth on him might not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." Now, we stand within the radi- 
ance of another mystery, anomaly, in the 
government of our Father ! The cross of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, the substitutional suffering 
of the innocent for the guilty, by means of 
which God can be just, and yet justify the pen- 
itent believer, — that cross, with its amazing 
mystery of wisdom and love, — that cross, with 
all its spirit-drawing, heart-melting power, 
looms up before us. Who of you does not feel 
like bowing before and adoring the wisdom 
which devised, the love which prompted, and 
the power which executed such a wondrous 
method for satisfying all the claims of vio- 



FORGIVENESS. 191 

lated law, maintaining the honor of the divine 
government, and yet securing a basis for the 
pardon of " our sins " ? Briefly this doctrine is 
thus stated. We are under God's moral gov- 
ernment ; there can be no government without 
law ; there can be no law without penalty ; 
there can be no sustained law without either 
the infliction of the penalty on the guilty or on 
a substitute. That penalty is not inflicted on 
the penitent believer : it must therefore have 
been borne by Him " who bore our sins in 
his own body on the tree." It was " He suf- 
fered, the just for the unjust, that he might 
bring us to God." "Christ hath redeemed us 
from the curse of the law, being made a curse 
for us." " He was delivered for our offences." 
"He died for our sins." " The iniquity of us 
all was laid upon him." " He w r as made sin for 
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made 
the righteousness of God in him." He himself 
said, " This is my blood of the New Testament, 
which is shed for the remission of sins" 
Therefore it was, that, upon the very evening 
following the day upon which our Lord arose 
from the dead, he told his disciples "that repent- 



192 FORGIVENESS. 

ance and remission of sins should be preached 
in his name, among all nations, beginning at 
Jerusalem." 

This is the truth which gives distinctive sig- 
nificance to the Christian system, and is linked 
with the issues of eternity. Science may report, 
through Newton, its triumphs in the heavens, 
laying bare its vast mechanism ; through Davy, 
its wondrous discoveries of the secrets of chem- 
istry; through Humboldt, the wonders of cos- 
mos; and through others, the hidden history 
of earth, as revealed in geology, and the grand 
array of principle and facts, which it has brought 
to light concerning matter and mind, society 
and nations ; but the gospel alone reveals how 
God can be just, and justify a sinner. 

Friends, this is the gospel of the Son of God, 
confirmed by miracles, sealed by his blood, 
affirmed by "our Father," attested by the ex- 
perience of millions in heaven and on earth. 
Therefore we read, " Being justified freely by 
his grace, through the redemption which is in 
Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a 
propitiation through faith in his blood, to de- 
clare his righteousness for the remission of sins 



FORGIVENESS. 193 

which are past." " In whom we have redemp- 
tion through his blood, and the forgiveness of 
sins, according to the riches of his grace." 
Therefore that pathetic exhortation, " Be kind 
to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one 
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath for- 
given you" Here, and here only, is hope for the 
least, and for the most guilty of us all. Here is 
the basis upon which alone God can forgive 
" our sins." 

Having now expounded the subject and ob- 
ject of this petition, I close this lecture by re- 
marking upon the prerequisite to the acceptable 
offering of it. 

We may repeat, we can never pray this peti- 
tion without an appropriate antecedent exer- 
cise. There must be a realization of " our sins" 
This, I hope, is obvious to you all. Not dwell- 
ing upon it, therefore, I direct your attention to 
the fact, that an honest study of the portion of 
the Lord's Prayer we have already considered 
is divinely adapted to produce such a realization. 
Briefly, look at this adaptability. 

1. We are taught to pray, " Our Father," 
and thus heartily recognize his fatherhood. 

13 



194 FORGIVENESS. 

Ask yourself, " Is lie ray father ? " Then I 
ought always to have recognized, loved, hon- 
ored, and obeyed him ; and I have not done it." 
Thus you will see how verily guilty you are in 
failing to do this ; that you are " no longer 
worthy to be called his son ; " that you deserve 
banishment from him. 

2. We are taught to pray, " hallowed be 
thy name ; " and thus do reverent homage to 
the name which heaven adores. Alas ! you 
know that you have utterly failed in this. 
Some have even dared to profane it. All have 
failed in hallowing it. In this regard, too, u all 
have sinned." 

3. We are taught to pray, "thy kingdom 
come ; " and yet have we not persisted in 
shutting our hearts against the incoming of that 
kingdom ? Have we not rebelliously kept self 
on the throne which belongs to him ? 

4. We are taught to pray, "thy will be 
done;" and yet have we not resisted that will 
all our lives long, both in its direct commands 
and prohibitions ? 

Finally, we are taught to pray, " give us this 
day our daily bread," and thus to recognize 



FORGIVENESS. , 195 

daily dependence upon " our Father's " provi- 
dence ; and yet have we not utterly failed in 
doing this? Oh! then, are we not all sin- 
ners, guilty sinners, penalty-deserving sinners ? 
With these facts before you, can you retain 
pride, conceit, self-complacency? Does not 
your heart now cry out, " God be merciful to 
me a sinner " ? Before closing, I wish to ask 
two questions. 

Have you no realization of your " sins " ? 
Then I beseech of you to implore God, by the 
Spirit, for Jesus' sake, to give it to you. Beg 
him not to leave you to spiritual blindness, 
hardness of heart, insensibility of conscience, 
and obduracy of will. Beg him not to leave 
you alone, " dead in trespasses and sins." Beg 
him to break the power of your regnant de- 
pravity, and save you from yourself. Unless 
this is done, you are forever a lost soul. 

Have you a realization of your " sins " ? 
Then joyfully I exclaim, " Behold the Lamb of 
God, which taketh away the ' sins ' of the 
world ! " He is faithful and just to forgive your 
sins, and cleanse you from all iniquity. 



196 FORGIVENESS 

" Flee as a bird to the mountain, 
Thou who art weary of sin ; 
• Go to the clear, flowing fountain, 

Where you may wash and be clean. 
Fly, for the Avenger is nigh thee : 
Call, and the Saviour will hear thee ; 
He on his bosom will bear thee, 
thou who art weary of sin ! 

He will protect thee forever, 
Wipe every falling tear ; 

He will forsake thee, oh, never, 
Sheltered so tenderly there ! 

Haste, then, the hours are flying ; 

Spend not thy moments in sighing ; 

Cease from your sorrow and crying ; 
The Saviour will wipe every tear." 




^i^r^s/^^il^ 



VIII. 



THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 



"&nfc forgtbe us our treats as foe forgibe our toeotors," 
"Jor, if p forgtbe mm tfjeir trespasses, pur fjeabenlg 

Jatfjer foil! also forrjibe pu, 
" ISut, if p forgtbe not men tfjeir trespasses, neitfjer bill 

pur JFatijcr forgtbe sour trespasses," 

Matt. vi. 12, 14, 15. 

"<Entf forgtbe us our sins, for foe also forgibe eberg one 
tfjat is tn&ebteti to us/' 

Luke xi. 4. (Lev. xix. 18.) 



THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

" Mark well the terms 
On which our final absolution rests. 
Forgiveness such as that which here on earth 
To others we impart, the righteous Judge 
Will unto us accord at the dread day 
Of universal judgment." 

Samuel Hats. 

IN our last lecture, we studied the first 
phrase in the fifth petition of the Lord's 
Prayer, and saw that its subject was "our 
sins," and its object " their forgiveness." The 
concluding phrase will now engage our atten- 
tion. We are taught to pray, " Forgive us, as 
we forgive others" Proceed with me to con- 
sider, — 

The divine limit to our plea for forgiveness. 

I. I call your attention to the general law of 
limitation, of which our Lord here makes a 
specific application. 

199 



200 THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

Every created thing and being is limited in 
nature, capacity, sphere, duty, and privilege. 
There is only one in the universe of whom this 
is not true, and that is " Our Father." He 
hath no limitations. He is a circle whose centre 
is nowhere, and whose circumference is every- 
where. But, illimitable himself, he hath placed 
limitations in their very constitutions upon all 
created objects. Experimentally, we come in 
contact with these in regard to our bodies, 
minds, and hearts. We find them defining our 
necessities, desires, duties, and privileges, not 
only with respect to our fellow-men, but also 
to God, his law, and his gospel. We find the 
principle of limitation in the prayer which our 
divine Teacher taught us to offer in regard to 
our bodies, " Give us this day" (not to-morrow), 
" our daily bread " (not superfluous luxuries). 
We find the same principle applied to the for- 
giveness of our sins. We are taught to pray, 
" forgive us ; " not without reference to our 
feelings towards others, — nay, "forgive us as we 
forgive;" that is, let forgiveness be granted to 
us, according to the forgiveness we extend to 
those who have sinned against us. This we are 



THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 201 

taught to make the limitation of our prayer ; for 
this, he expressly informs us, our Father will 
assuredly make the limitation of his answer. 
Did he not say, " For, if ye forgive men their 
trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive 
you ; but, if ye forgive not men their trespasses, 
neither will your Father forgive your tres- 
passes." He also said, " Judge not, that ye be 
not judged: for with what judgment ye judge, 
ye shall be judged ; and with what measure ye 
mete, it shall be measured to you again." 

Such is the application of the divine law of 
limitation to our plea for pardon. 

What say you to it ? Is it hard, severe, or 
unjust? Ought we to ask our Father to do 
that which we will not do ourselves? Ought 
we to be forgiven, if we will not forgive ? 
Would it not be injurious to us, if we could 
be pardoned of God for Jesus' sake, and be 
allowed to retain an unforgiving spirit towards 
our fellow-men ? Who and what are we, that 
this great boon should be extended to us, while 
we will not extend it to others ! If it could be 
so, our selfishness would be nourished, and our 
natures harmed, by the retention of an element 



202 THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

wrong in itself, and hostile to the divine nature. 
The sins of our fellow-men against us are insig- 
nificant, when compared with our sins against 
God. We saw something in our last lecture 
of their uncounted number, their crimson 
guiltiness, and obnoxiousness to the penalty of 
the holy law ; and no one can fail to recog- 
nize the fact, that they are infinitely greater 
than those of others against us. Dare we, then, 
ask him to forgive the greater, while we refuse 
to forgive the less ? Our fellow-men often may 
and do plead excuses, palliations, and even justi- 
fications, for what they have done against us ; 
but we can never present such pleas before the 
infinitely righteous God for sins against him. 

Then I submit to your reason and con- 
science, that, as the general law of limitation is 
just and beneficent, the application of that law 
to our plea for pardon is eminently right and 
benevolent. Our minds perceive this ; and our 
spiritual natures feel that it ought to be so. 

Let us not fail, however, to remember how 
impressively this truth is elsewhere urged in the 
gospel, " If thy brother sin against thee, and 
say, I repent, forgive him. If thy brother tres- 



THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 203 

pass against thee seven times a day, and say, I 
repent, thou shalt forgive him." This amazed 
the impetuous Peter; and he surlily cried, 
" Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against 
me, and I forgive him, — till seven times ? " 
That seemed to him incredible and impossible. 
. Calmly, firmly, the adorable Lord not only re- 
affirmed his statement, but greatly enlarged the 
duty, by responding, " I say not unto thee until 
seven times, but until seventy times seven." 
So also in the parable of the servant, to whom 
the lord freely forgave all his indebtedness, 
but who immediately went out, and, taking his 
fellow-servant by the throat, said, " Paj r me 
what thou owest ; " and when that fellow-ser- 
vant did not pay him, because he could not, 
that forgiven one cast him into prison. Do you 
remember the terrific words which our Lord 
represents the master of that servant as say- 
ing ? They are red hot with indignation and 
righteous wrath. " O thou wicked servant ! I 
forgave thee all thy debt, because thou desiredst 
me : shouldest not thou also have had com- 
passion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had 
compassion on thee ? And his lord was wroth, 



204 THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

and delivered him unto the tormentors till he 
should pay all that was due. So likewise shall 
my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from 
your hearts forgive not every one his brother their 
trespasses" 

" Speak not of vengeance ! 'tis the right of God. 
' Vengeance is his.' Who shall usurp the bolt, 
And launch it for Omnipotence ? Shall man 
Assume the right of judgment, or prescribe 
How far the line of mercy shall extend, 
Or punishment shall stretch its iron rod ? 
In thine own cause to judge, who gave thee right, 
Presumptuous man ! " 

Here let me notice a difficulty which arises in 
many minds. One may say, " I can forgive a 
man who has wronged me, if he will acknowl- 
edge the wrong, and profess sorrow for it ; but 
suppose he does neither, — suppose he either ig- 
nores the wrong, or justifies himself in doing it, 
— does the law of limitation apply to that case ? 
Will God's forgiveness of my sins against him 
be limited by my forgiveness of that man's 
sin against me?" Friend, I profess to be noth- 
ing more than a preacher of Christianity. I 



THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA, 205 

can therefore only present to you what it 
teaches. We are plainly taught in this peti- 
tion to pray, " Forgive us, as we forgive." 
Evidently, the forgiveness we are to extend to 
others is not conditioned upon any feelings 
or conduct on their part; certainly such is 
our Lord's teaching. And it is equally plain, 
that his forgiveness of others was not thus 
conditioned. Go to Calvary, look upon him 
nailed to the cross between two malefac- 
tors ! Behold him, jeered at, reviled, taunted 
most ignominiously by his murderers ! Oh ! in 
their stony hearts there is no sorrow for their 
cruel, cruel conduct ; from their bitter lips fall 
no words of confession ; out of their wild, fierce 
eyes gleams no pitying sympathy for the inno- 
cent, liarmless, and uncomplaining sufferer : and 
yet hear him exclaim with his dying breath, 
while agony thrills along his quivering nerves, 
"Father, forgive them: they know not what 
they do." 

Assuredly, then, both in his teaching and ex- 
ample, we are taught the duty of cherishing a 
forgiving spirit even towards those who do not 
penitently acknowledge their sins against us. 



206 THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

Another person may say, " Well, I'll forgive ; 
but I'll never forget." Most miserable fallacy ! 
Such never forgive at all, but, by cherishing the 
remembrance of their wrongs, really embalm 
them. When Frederick the Great lay on his 
death-bed, M. Rolooff, one of his attendants, 
said, " There is the forgiveness of your enemies. 
Your majesty is bound to forgive all men. If 
you do not do this, how can you ask to be for- 
given ? " With all his natural implacability, the 
king had a logical mind. He immediately felt 
the force of the interrogative argument, and 
was much troubled. After a moment's pause, 
he said, " Well, I will do it." Then, turning to 
the queen, he said, " You, Feekin, may write to 
your brother, after I am dead, and tell him that 
I forgave him, and died in peace with him." 
M. Rolooff mildly suggested* "Your majesty 
should write it at once." Frederick replied 
sternly, "No, write after I am dead. That will 
be safer." When our Father forgives, " Tie re- 
members no more forever." And Jesus said, " If 
ye from your hearts forgive not, your heavenly 
Father will not forgive." 

There are still others who are conscious of 



TEE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 207 

having done wrong to their fellow-men, and 
are entirely reckless with regard to it. They 
neither desire nor would accept forgiveness. 
What is our duty with regard to them ? Sim- 
ply to be Christlike ; and, whether they desire 
it or not, to cherish and develop a forgiving 
spirit, — to cultivate that charity which hopeth 
all things, endure th all things. 

" We do pray for mercy ; 

And that same prayer should lead us all 

To render deeds of mercy. 

How shall those hope for mercy, rendering none ? " 

2. The experience of Christianity in our hearts 
disposes and enables us to exercise this Christlike 
spirit. 

Perhaps the bitterest opponents of the gospel 
in the present day are German infidels. One 
of them has called the gentle, patient, forgiving 
spirit of Christianity "a doglike virtue, — the 
grace of a beaten hound." Such an utterance 
could only proceed from heartless, malignant 
infidelity. Let it not startle you, however ; for 
it is merely an intensified expression of the real 
spirit of worldliness, in its opposition to godli- 



208 THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

ness ; of human depravity, in its opposition to 
Christianity. Verily, it is the natural utterance 
of the depraved soul, which denies the father- 
hood of God, and the brotherhood of humanity ; 
which never hallows, but profanes the holy 
name ; is antagonistic to his kingdom ; violates 
perpetually his will ; recognizes no relation be- 
tween Providence and our daily bread; and 
which, although stricken through with sin, is 
dead as to all sensibility concerning it, and 
never implores forgiveness. You ought, there- 
fore, not to be surprised at the contempt which 
it pours upon this prayer for pardon, and its 
limitation ; or upon the Christian duty of mag- 
nanimously from the heart forgiving others their 
sins against us. 

The same spirit you more frequently hear 
speak on this wise, " I treat others just as they 
treat me. I will not forgive an injury. I will 
repay wrong with wrong. I will never forgive 
even an injustice; and, sooner or later, I will 
make him- suffer who commits it." Many 
really think such utterances brave, manly, and 
dignified. Of course it is perfectly natural 
that such should deem the generous spirit of 



THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 209 

forgiveness cowardly and unmanly. Here, then, 
are two antagonistic dispositions, — the forgiv- 
ing and the unforgiving. The former is of God, 
and like God; the other is of sin, and like 
Satan. One is divine and Christlike ; the 
other, human and devilish. The latter is nat- 
ural to the depraved soul ; the other, foreign to 
it, — the experimental product of the grace and 
truth of Christianity. Verily, it is a Christian 
grace and a Christian duty, which no man will 
or can perform unless he is a Christian ; and no 
man is a Christian unless he is born again of 
t\e Spirit, and has become, through repentance 
and faith, a "new creature in Jesus Christ" 
Such an one is both disposed and enabled to 
forgive others their sins against him. 

" To conquer hate, 
And in its place to cherish love unfeigned, 
Forgiveness and forgetfulness of wrong, 
No precepts but the perfect law of Christ, 
No teacher but the blessed Son of God, 
Could e'er instruct mankind." 

Facts demonstrate this. ' I give you one of very 
late occurrence, which was communicated by a 

14 



210 THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

highly-respected minister of the gospel. " Some 
months ago, while in the shop of a member of 
my church, I met a man who had been colonel 
of a New-Jersey regiment during the late war. 
He had been a brave and gallant soldier, and 
had received dangerous wounds while defend- 
ing the flag of his country. With much that 
was noble and generous in his character, he was 
totally ignorant of experimental religion. In 
the course of conversation upon general sub- 
jects, he remarked, in a strongly-excited man- 
ner, that he could never become a Christian, be- 
cause he could never be induced to forgive any one 
who had ever injured him. I replied, that the 
forgiving love of God, through Christ, could 
overcome all such resentful feelings: that nat- 
urally, I had the same disposition ; but that 
now, when I felt the rising of anger and re- 
venge, I just thought how much more I had 
wronged my best, my heavenly Friend, and the 
feeling of resentment was gone in an instant. 
We parted, and did not meet again until to-day, 
when, in the very thoroughfare of business, he 
hailed me, and, extending both hands, exclaimed, 
" My dear sir, God bless you ! Do you remem- 



THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 211 

ber the last conversation we had ? Well, God, 
for Jesus' sake, has forgiven my sins ; and now I 
am trying to find every one who has ever injured 
me, that I may tell them that I have forgiven 
them." The minister adds, " What a change ! 
Truly, if any man be in Christ he is a new crea- 
ture: old things have passed away, and all 
things become new." 

There is nothing distinctively peculiar about 
this case. Such is the designed and effected 
result of regenerating grace in every renewed 
soul. By it we may test both the genuineness 
of our conversions and the degree in which 
our natures are under the influence of Chris- 
tianity. Oh, the grace of God in Christ is 
adapted to extirpate all bitterness and wrath, 
all desire for retaliation and revenge, and make 
us like him, " who, when he was reviled, reviled 
not again ; when he suffered, threatened not, 
but committed himself to him that judgeth 
righteously:" him who said, " love your ene- 
mies ; bless them that curse you ; do good to 
them that hate you ; and pray for them that de- 
spitefully use you and persecute you ; " him 
whose gospel teaches us " not to render evil for 



& 



212 THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

evil, railing * for railing, but contrariwise, bless- 
ing ; knowing that thereunto ye are called, that 
ye should inherit the blessing." 

HI. The importance of possessing and cul- 
tivating this Christly spirit. 

Like every other good element, this needs 
and must receive attentive cultivation, in order 
to its growth and development. In the hope 
of impressing this upon you, — 

1. I recall attention to the truth, that, without 
its exercise, we cannot be ourselves forgiven of 
God. 

Bear this in mind. Others may rest satisfied 
with a hope, based upon intellectual belief, that 
they shall be saved in eternity. We need to be 
saved now and here. We need the forgiveness 
of our sins now and here. Unforgiven sin is a 
burden upon the spiritually-conscious soul : it is 
a thick cloud intervening betwixt God and it- 
self ; it is a barrier to communion with him, and 
the experience of spiritual joy. Out of a sense 
of unforgiven sin arise gloomy doubts and de- 
pressing fears, and general distrust. But, 

" If sin be pardoned, I'm secure : 
Death hath no sting beside." 



THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 213 

And, with regard to eternity, each of us may- 
adopt the language of an old poet, and say, — 

" Had I a throne above the rest, 
Where angels and archangels dwell, 

One sin unslain within my breast 
Would change that heaven to hell." 

Never forget, that, while on the conditions of 
penitence and faith God has promised to for- 
give us for Jesus' sake, it is also declared, that, 
"If we forgive not, our Father will not forgive 
us." Oh ! then, the unforgiving are unforgiven. 
" He shall have judgment without mercy, who 
showeth no mercy." " Vengeance is mine, and 
I will repay, saith the Lord." u With the 
merciful, thou wilt show thyself merciful." 
"Blessed are the merciful ; for they shall obtain 
mercy." " When ye stand praying, forgive, if 
ye have aught against any; that your Father 
which is in heaven may also forgive you your 
trespasses." " If a man say, I love God, and 
hate his brother, he is a liar ; for he that loveth 
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he 
love God whom he hath not seen ? " 



214 TEE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

" A wrong avengied is doubly perpetrated : 
Two sinners stand where lately stood but one." 

" Forgiveness to the injured does belong ; 
But they ne'er pardon who commit the wrong." 

2. Our own enjoyment and usefulness mate- 
rially depend upon it. 

Its opposite, an unforgiving spirit, is only a 
form of intensified selfishness, and is an irritant 
to the soul. It excites disquietude, and ener- 
gizes our lower natures, and therefore harms, 
enfeebles, all the Christian virtues. On the 
contrary, the generous, loving spirit of forgive- 
ness diffuses not only a soothing balm through- 
out the soul, but invigorates all other virtues, 
and so brings the peace which passeth under- 
standing. It is therefore kindness to ourselves 
to forgive others. " Why," asked a heathen phi- 
losopher, " should I hurt myself by doing ill to 
another, because he has hurt himself by doing 
ill to me?" He who lets the sun go down 
upon his wrath " makes a hard pillow for his 
head, and appoints Satan the guardian of his 
slumbers." Pliny said, " The greatness of the 
provocation magnifies the clemency," 



THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA, 215 

" The quality of mercy is not strained : 
It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven, 
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed : 
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. 
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown." 

Is this true of humanity in general? Oh, 
then, how gloriously true does it become in ref- 
erence to every follower of the meek and lowly 
Jesus, who one day hopes to wear a crown, the 
brightness of which shall the sun outshine ! 
An unknown writer has said, that " To render 
evil for good is devil-like ; to render evil for evil 
is beast-like ; to render good for good is man- 
like ; but to render good for evil is God-like." 
Experience has demonstrated, that he who does 
from the heart render good for evil finds his 
soul kept in perfect peace. Solomon declared a 
sublime truth when he wrote, " The discretion 
of a man deferreth his anger ; and it is his glory 
to pass over a transgression." 

Sir Matthew Hale rendered without fee a great 
service to one who had previously injured him. 
Being asked how he could use so kindly one 
who had wronged him so greatly, he replied, 



216 THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

" I thank Grod that I have learned to forgive in- 
juries" Archbishop Crannier, who suffered 
martyrdom in 1556, had cultivated this disposi- 
tion so highly, that he never revenged an in- 
jury, and cheerfully forgave those who planned 
his death. So habitual was his development of 
this Christian grace, that it became a common 
expression in England, " Do my Lord of Can- 
terbury an ill turn, and you make him your 
friend forever." That eminent French Chris- 
tian, Desales, said, " That whereas men think it 
so hard a thing to forgive a wrong, he found it 
so sweet, that, if the contrary were commanded 
him, he would have much ado to obey it." 

In. one of Dryden's essays, he says, "And 
yet. we know that in Christian charity all 
offences are to be forgiven, as we expect the 
like pardon for those we daily commit against 
God. This consideration has often made me 
tremble when I was saying our Lord's Prayer : 
for the plain condition of the forgiveness which 
we beg is the pardoning of others the offences 
which they have done us ; for which reason I 
have many times avoided the commission of that 
fault, even when I have been notoriously pro- 
voked." 



THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 217 

3. Moreover, brethren, this Christlike spirit 
of forgiveness hath strange, wondrous power. 

Not merely subjective, — that is, within the 
soul which exercises it, — but objective ; that is, 
upon those towards whom it is exercised. Oh ! 
it hath a power mightier than resentment, 
mightier than angry words, mightier than 
retaliatory acts. These arouse opposition, arm 
others against us, induce them to justify 
wrongs already committed, and tempt them 
to commit others. But a forgiving spirit 
appeals to a man's better nature, disarms, pro- 
duces conviction, and melts its way into the 
heart. Verily it hath a strange subduing 
power, which often produces in those who have 
sinned against us the very repentance and con- 
fession which is all that could be possibly asked 
of them. I have read somewhere of a soldier 
in our army who had become dissipated and 
neglectful of his duties. He was punished 
again and again, by confinement and other 
more humiliating methods. Under this treat- 
ment he grew harder and harder. At last, a 
shrewd officer, in command over him, one day 
sent for him to his tent, and told him how sorry 



218 THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

he was that all previous attempts to rescue him 
from ruin had failed, and that he knew of only- 
one other method to try, and that was, to freely 
forgive him all the past, in hope that he would 
amend for the future. The account stated that 
this broke the soldier's heart ; and he did become 
a better man. 

" The fairest action of our human life 

Is scorning to revenge an injury ; 
For who forgives without a further strife 

His adversary's heart doth to him tie : 
And 'tis a firmer conquest, truly said, 
To win the heart, than overthrow the head." 

This is the reason that we read in the Bible, 
" Bless them which persecute you : bless, and 
curse not." " Recompense to no man evil for 
evil." " Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, 
but rather give place unto wrath : for it is 
written, Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith 
the Lord." "Therefore, if thine enemy hun- 
ger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink : for 
in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on 
his head. Be not overcome of evil, but over- 
come evil with good." God hath ordained that 



TEE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 219 

love shall triumph over enmity. But " If ye 
love them which love you, what thank have ye ? 
for sinners also love those that love them. And 
if ye do good to them which do good to you, 
what thank have ye ? for sinners do also even 
the same. But love ye your enemies, and do 
good, and your reward shall be great ; and ye 
shall be the children of the Highest : for he is 
kind to the unthankful and the evil." 

" 'Tis sweet to stammer one letter of 
The Eternal's language. On earth 
'Tis called forgiveness." 

" The narrow soul 
Knows not the God-like glory of forgiving ; 
Nor can the cold, the ruthless heart conceive 
How large the power, how fixed the empire is, 
Which benefits confer on generous minds : 
Goodness prevails upon the stubborn foes, 
And conquers more than ever Caesar's sword did. ,, 

Finally, beloved, "Let all bitterness and 
wrath and anger and clamor and evil-speaking 
be put away from you, with all malice ; and be 
ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving 



220 THE LIMIT OF OUR PLEA. 

one another, even as Gfod, for Christ's sake, hath 
forgiven you." " Put on, therefore, as the elect 
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, 
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long- 
suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving 
one another, if any have a quarrel against any : 
even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." " Be 
ye all of one mind, having compassion one of 
another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be cour- 
teous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for 
railing, but contrariwise blessing." 





IX. 



LEADING INTO TEMPTATION. 



@m 




&nU leaU us not into temptation," 

Matt. vi. 13. 



* 




TEMPTATION. 

11 And while in peace abiding, 
"Within a sheltered home, 
We feel that sin and evil 

Could never, never come ; 
But let the strong temptation rise, 

As whirlwinds sweep the sea. 
We find no strength to 'scape the wreck, 
Save, pitying God ! in thee." 

Mrs. Hale. 

" Couldst thou boast, O child of weakness I 
O'er the sons of wrong and strife, 
Were their strong temptations planted 
In thy path of life?" 

Whittder. 

WORDS often receive their chief signifi- 
cance from the person who speaks them. 
The same language, when spoken by different 
persons, impresses us differently. Suppose the 
case of two men, each of whom should sav to 
you, " Young man, pray that there may not be 
war in our country again ; that you may never 
be called to take up arms ; never have to go into 

223 



224 TEMPTATION. 

battle." Suppose that one of them has never 
been in war, and that all he knows of its hor- 
rors he has learned from others. But suppose 
that the other man is a veteran, who has had a 
soldier's experience; has heard the thunder of 
war's artillery ; seen the destructive lightning 
of its volleys ; witnessed the gory horrors 
of its battlefields ; bears on his own person its 
scars, and can make your eye moisten while he 
tells you of the brave comrades who fell at his 
side : when he says, " Pray that you may 
never personally know what war is," those 
words, coming from him, have an emphatic im- 
pressiveness, which they are far from bearing 
when uttered by the other man. 

Friends, it seems to me, that whilst the peti- 
tion before us has attracted more attention than 
perhaps any other in the Lord's Prayer, be- 
cause of its intrinsic relation to our dangers, it 
becomes clothed with inexpressible interest, 
when we remember that it came from One who 
had himself just passed through the fiercest, 
most terrible, protracted, and exhausting temp- 
tations to which any being was ever subjected. 

A short time before this utterance, — imme- 



TEMPTATION. 225 

cliately after his baptism, — our Lord had been 
led by the Spirit along the sandy verge of the 
Jordan valley, past the Dead Sea, into the wil- 
derness, to be tempted of the Devil. Travellers 
tell lis that this wilderness is so verdureless, 
arid, and calcined, that its surface looks like 
the embers of a ruined world. There, amid 
inhospitable solitudes, he remained during 
forty days and nights, suffering extreme ex- 
posure and unrelieved hunger. There, as the 
second Adam, as the divine-human Christ, as 
the representative of our humanity, he was 
tempted by the great tempter with substantially 
all the temptations t<5 which we are exposed. 
And fresh from that tremendous conflict, 
wearing its scars, knowing experimentally what 
temptation is, and what it costs to overcome it, 
he taught his disciples to pray, " Lead us not into 
temptation" In this connection of his own ex- 
perience with the subject of this petition, I find 
the most pathetic and tender interest added to 
the petition itself. 

I. Let us seek its true exposition. 

More persons have halted at, stumbled over, 

15 



226 TEMPTATION. 

found difficulties in this, than any other sen- 
tence of the model prayer. They say, Is it 
possible that our Father will lead us into temp- 
tation, and that, therefore, we must pray against 
it ? Can he possibly become our tempter, en- 
snarer to sin ? I answer, that much of the per- 
plexity concerning Scriptures arises out of not 
understanding that many words therein have 
double meanings ; whereas, we are accustomed to 
attach to them a single one. This is true of the 
words " tempt " and " temptation." Many as- 
sociate with this verb and noun merely the idea 
of enticing to evil, alluring to sin. Therefore 
it seems very mysterious to them that we should 
be taught to pray that our Father would not 
thus entice and allure us. But this word has 
another meaning. Very often, in the Bible, to 
tempt means to try, to test, to put to proof. 
Thus God tempted Adam, Abraham, and 
other ancient worthies. He said to Israel, " I 
have led thee forty years in the wilderness, to 
prove thee, to humble thee, and to see what was in 
thy hearth Thus our Lord was tempted in the 
wilderness. Thus he himself said to others, 
" Because thou hast kept the word of my patience^ 



TEMPTATION. 227 

I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which 
shall come upon all the world, to try them that are 
on the earth. Thus an apostle speaks of "Fiery 
trials which are to try you" " Blessed is the 
man that endureth temptation ; for, when he is 
tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which 
the Lord hath promised to them that love him." 
Now, a true exposition of this petition reveals 
not only the double meaning of this word temp- 
tation, but reveals the fact, however perplexing 
and mysterious it may be, that God is related to 
it and to us, in both of those senses. Some, in 
order to escape this difficulty, drop the word 
"Lead," and substitute the word " Leave ; " and 
make the petition read, " Leave us not in temp- 
tation." The Greek verb of which lead is the 
translation will by no possibility allow of this. 
Nay, we must acknowledge the fact, that this 
petition assumes and teaches that our Father is 
related to our temptations, both in the sense of 
trials, tests of character, and of enticements, 
allurements to sin. Suffice it just here to say, 
that he is related to the former directly, and to 
the latter indirectly, both of which positions I 
hope to sustain in this lecture. 



228 TEMPTATION. 

II. He is related directly to our temptations, 
in the sense of trials, tests, proofs of character. 

It is a fact, of which we are all conscious, 
that we are led into circumstances where our 
characters are tried, put to the test ; and what is 
fundamentally in us is brought out. Our whole 
existence is clearly one of probation : probation 
involves trials ; and these imply intermingled 
good and evil. Bishop Butler truly affirms, that 
" A state of probation implies trial, difficulties, 
and danger." Responsibility, which we all feel, 
implies law ; and law implies the possibility of 
disobedience ; and the possibility of disobedience 
implies a will, subject to be influenced by op- 
posite motives : and herein is both the capability 
and possibility of either vice or virtue. Now, 
to determine the character of our goodness, it 
must be put on trial ; and, to be put on 
trial, we must be " led into temptation." For 
Achan to steal, for Cain to slay, for Gehazi to 
take bribes, they must have opportunities. Of 
Hezekiah we read, that, " in the business of the 
ambassadors, God left him, to try him, that he 
might know all that was in his heart." If you 
were never in circumstances where your virtue 



TEMPTATION. 229 

was tested, you might remain innocent, simply 
from lack of opportunity to become guilty ; but 
there would, in such case, be no virtue in your 
innocence. Development is God's universal law, 
— development both of good and evil ; and 
therefore he providentially leads us where we 
have opportunities for either. This is not only a 
fact of our consciousness, but a clear revelation 
of the Bible. It is full of illustrations of such 
leadings of God's providence, both of individuals 
and nations. These are so familiar, that I need 
not specify or dwell upon them. By provi- 
dential arrangement, he makes our conditions in 
life serve this purpose. Some are thus tested 
by vigorous health of body, others by sickness ; 
some by wealth, others by poverty. Agur un- 
derstood this when he prayed, " Remove far from 
me vanity and lies : give me neither poverty nor 
riches; feed me with food convenient for me, lest 
I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the 
Lord ? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the 
name of my Gfod in vain." Some are thus tried 
by popularity ; others by neglect and reproach. 
Some by tests addressed to their physical appe- 
tites ; others by appeals to their aesthetic natures. 



230 TEMPTATION. 

Some by positions of trust and responsibility to 
which they are elevated ; others by the lowliness 
of the spheres in which they are left to move. 
Some by publicity, and others by privacy. Some 
by the greatness of their privileges ; others by 
deprivations of them : and all are tested by op- 
portunities of good and of evil. Moreover, the 
changes through which we pass, by divine ar- 
rangement, subject us to new tests. Nero, when 
young, was a beloved and honored pupil of 
Seneca. He neither knew himself, nor did 
others know what was in him ; but, when he 
became emperor of Rome, the latent devil with- 
in him burst forth into full diabolical proportions. 
Mary, Queen of England, when a girl, was kind 
and affectionate ; but, on the throne, she showed 
herself worthy of the awful historical title of 
" Bloody Mary." Robespierre, when a young 
man, resigned an office rather than condemn a 
culprit ; but, when he had full opportunities, 
he made the best blood of Paris flow in streams 
from the horrid guillotine. A mere change of 
place and associations will sometimes prove to 
be the occasion of such developments of charac- 
ter ; as, when a young man unblemished in 



TEMPTATION, 231 

reputation at his country home, falls into the 
snares of city life, and astonishes even himself 
by his capability for wickedness. 

Revolution in public affairs, monetary crises, 
how they reveal hidden character ! Facts seem 
to give some ground for the sneer of Aaron 
Burr at humanity, when he said that, "No 
moral agent since the world began ever prevailed 
over twenty-five per cent profit." Now, when 
our Lord taught us to pray, lead us not into temp- 
tation, in the sense we have just considered, we 
are not to understand that he taught us to dep- 
recate these tests of our characters, but to pray 
that we might not be led into trials which might 
prove too great for our debilitated natures, " that 
he would not conduct us into such intolerable 
and overmastering temptations as shall sweep 
our faith from its foothold, hurl us from our 
steadfastness, and whelm us in despair and per- 
dition; " and this seems made clear by the other 
branch of our petition, which asks deliverance 
from evil. In proof of this, I call your attention 
to the fact, that the Greek noun here rendered 
temptation comes from a verb which means to 
pierce through, as with a spear. Temptation 



232 TEMPTATION. 

therefore means not only a trial, but a sore 
transfixing, which might be greater than we are 
able to bear. So many of the primitive fathers 
understood this petition ; and therefore, in ex- 
plaining it, they added, quam ferre non pos- 
sumus, — " which we are not able to bear." 
Therefore, whilst we are not to shrink from tests 
by which our integrity is put to the proof, it is 
our privilege and duty to pray, "O "Father! 
lead us not into circumstances which shall 
constitute trials, — temptations beyond our poor- 
strength to endure." To this, direct reference 
seems to be made in the precious assurance, 
u There is no temptation taken you but such as 
is common to man ; but God is faithful, who will 
not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able ; 
but will, with the temptation, also make a way 
to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 

Our Father's design in this is twofold. 

1. To confirm what is good in us. It does not 
hurt gold to be tried, — tested, put to proof; 
nay, it is only purified by such processes. The 
very trial which would consume baser metals 
only consumes its dross. Even so genuine 
virtue is not harmed by circumstances which 



TEMP TA TION. 233 

cest its ,. integrity ; nay, it will grow stronger 
under them. Genuine honor, honesty, love, 
patriotism, v piety, — those golden elements of 
character, — are developed and strengthened by 
trials, before which dishonor, dishonesty, hatred, 
disloyalty, and impiety are disastrously over- 
thrown. A Charleston banker, who had lost all 
his property during the late war, subsequently 
said, "I am glad for the loss of my fortune. 
My sons were growing up in idleness, leaning on 
my wealth, and would perhaps have become 
worthless. Now they feel the necessity of exer- 
tion, both for my sake and their own ; and I have 
more pleasure in their present dutifulness and 
industry than I had in all my former wealth." 
Rev. Dr. Chapin said, " I would not give much 
for that virtue which has never been tried and 
tested. I would not give much for that virtue 
whose errant shield is burnished and beautiful. 
Give me the virtue whose battered and bruised 
shield has arrayed itself in conflict against the 
hosts of evil. Give me the dented and tarnished 
armor that has come out of the thick care and 
strife of life. Give me the man who has been 
baptized in the fire of temptation, and come out 
like refined gold." 



234 TEMPTATION. 

To this Job referred, when he said, " But he 
kiioweth the way that I take ; when he hath tried me, 
I shall come forth as gold." And David, when 
he exclaimed, " For thou, Grod ! hast proved us ; 
thou hast tried us as silver is tried. Thou hast 
caused men to ride over our heads ; ive went 
through fire and water ; thou broughtest us into 
the net: thou laidest affliction upon our loins: hut 
thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place" So 
also the apostle Peter, when he wrote to " the 
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the 
Father : " " Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though 
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness, 
through manifold temptations ; that the trial of 
your faith, being much more precious than of 
gold which perisheth, though it be tried with 
fire, might be found unto praise and honor and 
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." To 
this gracious design the apostle James referred, 
when he wrote, " My brethren, count it all joy 
when ye fall into divers temptations ; knowing 
this, that the trying of your faith worketh 
patience : but let patience have her perfect 
work, that ye may be perfect and entire, want- 
ing nothing." " Before I was afflicted," David 



TEMPTATION. 235 

sang, " I went astray ; but now have I kept thy 
w r ord. It is good for me that I have been af- 
flicted, that I might learn thy statutes." Thus, 
" out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of 
the strong comes forth sweetness." 

2. The other design is, by revealing to ourselves 
the evil that is in us, to teach us our need of him 
and his assisting grace. 

O friends ! our Father purposes only good 
to us in all his arrangements ; but, from the 
circumstances of the case, he must adapt his 
methods to our conditions. So blind are we to 
our own weakness, so conceited by false views of 
our own strength, that we are prone to refuse 
all the proffers of his grace, and rely upon our 
own wisdom and power, or upon favorable cir- 
cumstances around us. Therefore he leads us 
into exigencies, sends upon us afflictive dispen- 
sations, causes us to pass through severe trials, 
in which we find that our own wisdom is sheer 
folly, our strength mere weakness : we find our 
plans all thwarted, our expectations blasted, and 
that we are utterly insufficient of ourselves. 
Thus he graciously opens our blind eyes, unstops 
our deaf ears, melts our hard hearts, and makes 



236 TEMPTATION. 

us conscious of our need of wisdom wiser than 
our own; of strength stronger than our own; 
of a controlling will more powerful than our 
own ; of aid, which neither positions nor pos- 
sessions can afford, and which can come only 
from himself. And this gracious design is ac- 
complished, when, by these processes, this ex- 
perimental result is reached, and one out of the 
depths cries, " O my Father ! I am not sufficient 
of myself to control myself, nor to cope with 
the world, the flesh, and the devil. 

" Guide me, O thou great Jehovah ! 
Pilgrim through this barren land. 
I am weak, but thou art mighty : 
Hold me with thy powerful hand. 

Open thou the crystal fountain, 
Whence the healing waters flow ; 

Let the fiery, cloudy pillar 

Lead me all my journey through : 
Strong Deliverer, 

Be thou still my strength and shield." 

III. It remains for us to consider Gfod's rela- 
tion to our temptations in the sense of enticements, 
allurements, to sin. 



TEMPTATION. 237 

Of the fact of some such relation, there is no 
doubt. The fact that such relation is not direct 
and causal is most certain ; for we read, " Let 
no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted 
of God ; for God cannot be tempted with evil, 
neither tempteth he any man : but every man is 
tempted when he is drawn away of his own 
lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath con- 
ceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is 
finished, bringeth forth death." This relation, 
therefore, must be indirect and permissive. In 
Hebraistic expression, God is said to do a thing, 
which he only permits or suffers to be done. That 
he does suffer, permit, us to be led into tempta- 
tion is a conscious fact. But see you not that 
this is a necessity, that it could not be otherwise, 
unless he either controlled us by mere omnipo- 
tence, which would destroy our responsible 
agency, or remove us out of a state of proba- 
tion ? He does neither of these, but places 
before us good and evil ; offers us help to do 
the former, and to shun the latter; and then 
suffers, permits, us to act as we will, and bring 
upon ourselves the legitimate consequences of 
our own character and conduct. Thus under- 



238 TEMPTATION. 

stood, our petition means, let us not be led into 
temptation. 

1. We shall be deeply impressed with the 
importance of offering this petition, thus viewed, 
when we remember how much there is within us, 
which, unrestrained, leads us into temptation. 
Analyze the ordinary process of temptation. It 
commences with simply an evil thought; then 
the imagination is excited, which invests the 
object of the thought with impressive interest ; 
next follows the consent of the will, and finallv 
the act is performed, — the sin committed. He 
who knows his own seal best knows that the 
Bible speaks truth, when it says, that " the heart 
is deceitful above all things, and desperately 
wicked." Emphatically is this true of the un- 
regenerate heart ; and regenerated men are 
but "brands plucked from the burning, all 
charred with the fires through which they have 
passed, and readily rekindling at the contact of 
the casual spark." A good man may exclaim, 
" I hate vain thoughts ; " but they will arise within 
him. All of us have our besetting sins, our 
tendencies to evil ; and these go with us where 
we go, stay with us where we stay. Hence the 



TEMPTATION. 239 

elements of our worst dangers are within our- 
selves. Therefore we read, " He that is slow to 
anger is better than the mighty ; and he that 
ruleth his spirit than he who taketh a city." 
If left to himself, no man can tell what " earthlv, 
sensual, devilish " thing he may not do. St. 
Bernard truly said, "We are beaten with our 
own staff, and bound in our own girdle." Verily 
a blinded understanding, a faithless conscience, 
a treacherous memory, perverted judgment, pol- 
luted imagination, a debilitated will, a narrow 
experience, a spirit of self-dependence, — all 
these, associated with a deceitful heart, are rea'dy- 
evermore to lead us into temptation. This de- 
pravity sometimes makes God's best gifts occa- 
sions for sin. Such is its dire alchemy, that 
oftentimes the fond love of a mother, the lib- 
erality of a father, becomes the occasion of the 
ruin of their sons and daughters. Friendship, 
kindred, money, amusements, knowledge, honor, 
and power may all ensnare us ; even our Bibles, 
sabbaths, and religious privileges may be so used 
as to become aggravations of our guilt. Yea, 
the gospel of our salvation may be made the 
occasion of our increased condemnation ; and 



^40 TEMPTATION. 

the loving Christ, who now extends arms of 
mercy towards us, may become the condemning 
Judge, when he sits on the great white throne. 

2. Remember how much there is outside of 
us, ready to lead us into temptation. 

Think of the great spirit of evil, who " goeth 
about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may 
devour," — the great tempter of God and man. 
Subtle, inveterate, practised, and untiring ; 
" flitting restlessly, in sight of a lost and hated 
heaven, around our sin-defiled earth, his hate 
unsated, he maliciously, unweariedly, power- 
fully, cunningly, tempts men to sin." Oh, his 
wiles, devices, depths, fiery darts ! How great 
is his knowledge of our weaknesses, and of the 
means to work upon them ; and, alas ! worst of 
all, how many allies he has within our own na- 
tures ! Then think how full social, business, 
and political life is of temptation ! It was pub- 
lished in our newspapers, as a fact, that, since its 
establishment, there have been applications for 
admission to one of our State inebriate asy- 
lums of thirty-nine ministers, eight judges, forty 
merchants, two hundred and twenty-six physi- 
cians, two hundred and forty gentlemen, and 



TEMPTATION. 241 

thirteen hundred women. Young men feel 
strong in their power to resist temptation, and 
often laugh and make merry at the fears of 
their friends, who admonish them of the danger 
of entering upon any course of vicious indul- 
gence. But the wise man has said, " He that 
trusteth his own heart is a fool ; " and daily 
examples of the fatal fall and ruin of those 
who were confident of their own strength 
ought to warn every one to guard against per- 
sonal danger. " Let him that thinketh he 
standeth take heed lest he fall." The follow- 
ing illustration from " The American Messen- 
ger " is in point : "A young man stood gazing 
listlessly at the windows of a pleasantly-lighted 
room, one evening, when he felt a gentle tap on 
the shoulder : he turned ; and a friend of his, 
taking his arm, said, ' Come, I'm going in here a 
few moments ; will you not come ? ' He hesi- 
tated ; his mother rose before him, as on her 
dying bed he promised her that he would never, 
never, never sit at a gambling-table, or look up 
on the wine-cup. But the tempter still urged : 
the first downward step was taken. He entered. 
" A few years passed away. Stretched on a 

16 



242 TEMPTATION. 

bed is a poor, bloated, dying man, with frenzied 
eyes and writhing limbs. It is not necessary to 
follow him in the downward course of sin and 
misery. He had lost nearly all ; and he drank 
that he might still the accusings of conscience : 
he drank until he was struck with delirium tre- 
mens. He would point his attenuated finger 
towards the door, and exclaim, * There they are : 
don't you see them ? Oh, keep them off, keep 
them off ! There, they have got me ! Yes, 
yes, I will play one more game with you ; 
for you have my soul, I know you have. I will 
win it back.' Thus he would rave, ever think- 
ing he was playing with demons, that he might 
win back his soul, which he said they had got, 
until death palsied his arm, and chilled his 
blood; when the strife was ended, and the 
gambler-drunkard was no more." 

Everywhere there are beings who call them- 
selves men, who tempt others to disbelieve in 
God, throw away the Bible, violate the sabbath, 
to gamble, swear, lie, steal, and become licen- 
tious. There are beings, in the form of men, who 
tempt and seduce women ; yea, O God ! even 
girls, to hopeless ruin, and then glory in their 



TEMP TA TION. 243 

hellish triumphs. And worse than all, more hor- 
rible than all, there are beings, in the form of 
women, who tempt men to their everlasting 
overthrow. And what innumerable multitudes 
throughout the whole world fall before these 
malign influences ! 

Having now shown you God's relation to our 
temptations to be both direct and indirect, causal 
and permissive, the question arises, " What will 
we do with regard to it ? " How solemn the 
thought, that all of us will either be overcome 
by, or will overcome temptation! I think of a 
little child, and exclaim, — 

" Ob, thou bright thing, 
Fresh from the hand of God ! 
The motions of thy dancing limbs 
Are swayed by the unceasing 
Music of thy being. 

Nearer I deem the Lord 

While gazing on thee. 

9 Tis ages since he made 

His youngest star : 

His hands were on thee 
As of yesterday, thou later 
Kevelation, breaking with laughter 

From the fount, 

Whence all things flow. 



244 TEMPTATION. 

O bright and singing child ! 
What wilt thou be hereafter ? " 

Young men and maidens, what will ye be 
hereafter ? Shall ye be conquerors, or conquered 
by inevitable temptations ? I close this lecture 
by assuring you that safety is found only, — 

1. In conscious realization of your danger. 
" He that trusteth to his own heart is a fool ; " 
to his own wisdom, shall find it folly ; to his 
own strength, shall find it weakness ; to his own 
resolutions, shall find them swept away ; to his 
circumstances, shall find in them all tempta- 
tions. " Let him that thinketh he standeth 
take heed lest he fall." Awake to a realization 
of this, and cry to yourself, — 

" My soul, be on thy guard ; 
Ten thousand foes arise : 

The hosts of sin are pressing hard 
To draw thee from the skies." 

2. Daily pray this petition as you never have 
before. You understand it now in both of its 
relations. And what encouragement you have 
to offer it ! " We have not an High Priest who 



TEMPTATION. 245 

cannot be touched with the feeling of our in- 
firmities, but was in all points tempted like as 
we are, yet without sin. In that he himself 
hath suffered, being tempted, he is able also to 
succor them that are tempted." " God is faith- 
ful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above 
that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, 
make a way to escape, that ye may be able to 
bear it." u The Lord knoweth how to deliver 
the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the 
unjust to the day of judgment to be punished." 
8. Keep out of the way of temptation as much 
as possible. How many merely repeat this pe- 
tition, and then go, unnecessarily, voluntarily, 
into temptation ! Do you go where it is weak- 
est, and where pure influences are strongest! 
Both watch and pray, that ye enter not into 
temptation ; for, however willing the spirit may 
be, the flesh is weak. " Be sober, be vigilant ; 
for your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, 
goeth about, seeking whom he may devour." 
" Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of 
his might." " Put on the whole armor of God, 
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of 
the Devil." " Stand therefore, having your loins 



246 TEMPTATION, 

girt about with truth, and having on the breast- 
plate of righteousness, and your feet shod with 
the preparation of the gospel of peace ; above 
all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye 
shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the 
wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and 
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of 
God ; praying always with all prayer, and sup- 
plication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto 
with all perseverance ." 

" Now unto him that is able to keep you from 
falling, and to present you faultless before the 
presence of his glory, with exceeding joy, — to 
the only wise God, our Saviour, — be glory and 
majesty, dominion and power, both now and for- 
ever. Amen." 




X. 



DELIVERANCE FROM EVIL. 




" But fceltber its from ririi. 5 

Matt. vi. 13. 




DELIVERANCE. 

" All the ills of childhood, maturity, and age, each head of sweat 
rolling from the brow of toil, each tear that falls from the eye, and each 
sigh that quits the burdened heart, every pang felt, and every com- 
plaint uttered, but waft to God, or send around to our fellow-men, the 
one sad, monotonous cry, 'Deliver us from evil? " 

Rev. Dr. Williams. 

THE Lord's Prayer is an epitome of Chris- 
tian exercises, privileges, and duties. The 
first effect of a genuine Christian experience is, 
to reproduce in us the spirit and feelings of 
children towards God ; which recognizes father- 
hood in him, and brotherhood in all mankind, 
and then spontaneously utters the petitions con- 
cerning his name, his kingdom, and his will. 
This is the natural outflow of the regenerate 
soul, the loving gush of its supernatural unself- 
ishness towards its divine, all-glorious Father. 
That accomplished, we are allowed and taught 

249 



250 DELIVERANCE. 

to regard him in specific relations to ourselves, 
our physical necessities and our spiritual neces- 
sities. But these, you perceive, reach only the 
present. A future is before us, — a future all 
unknown, full of spiritual dangers, whose coast- 
line is strewn with wrecks ; and, with refer- 
ence to that, we are permitted and taught to 
pray, " Lead us not into temptation ; but 
deliver us from evil." The chief evidence that 
our past sins are forgiven is found in the fact, 
that we are not satisfied with pardon for the 
past, but desire safety from sin in the future ; 
and, when we pray, "Lead us not into tempta- 
tion," and understand what great purposes of 
love our Father proposes by means of it, then 
we cry, " Deliver us from evil ! " Augustine 
wrote, " When we say ' Deliver us from evil,' 
then we are reminded that we have not yet 
attained the region of that blessedness where 
no evil shall be suffered any more. And this 
last thought with which the Lord's Prayer is 
summed up is so comprehensive, so sufficient 
for every state of trouble, that, be the Christian 
in what trial he may, this final deliverance forms 
the ultimate object of his groanings. The 



DELIVERANCE. 251 

longing for this brings out his warmest tears ; 
with aspirations towards this, he begins his sup- 
plications ; on the hope of this, he lingers 
through their course ; and, with his whole soul 
fixed on this, he brings them to a close." 

I. What is that from which we are here taught 
to pray for deliverance ? 

" Evil." But what is that ? Any thing is evil 
in which bad qualities inhere, and which pro- 
duces bad effects. Physical evil is exactly this, 
in its relation to our material natures ; and 
soul-evil is this, in its relation to our spiritual 
natures. You ought to know, that, in the origi- 
nal Greek, there is a particle before the word 
translated " evil : " so that the prayer reads, 
deliver us from " the evil ; " and because, in 
Matthew's Gospel, Satan is called " the evil 
one," therefore many suppose that the reference 
here is to him. I do not. Observe the connec- 
tion, " Lead us not into temptation ; but 
deliver us from the 'evil.' " The evil of what? 
Obviously, that which results from, either not 
receiving the benefit which God designs temp- 
tation, in the sense of mere trial, shall bring us, 



252 DELIVERANCE. 

or that which results from our yielding to 
temptation, in the sense of inducement to sin. 
There is no evil in simply being tempted : nay, 
good accrues to us when we overcome it ; evil 
only when we are overcome by it. Evil is the 
opposite of good; which, in its highest sense, 
includes two elements, — a condition of our 
natures, such as is indicated by the words 
purity, holiness,' and goodness ; and an experi- 
ence of our souls, which we call happiness, and 
express by many similar words. " The man of 
the world looks to himself, and calls those 
things evil which' are displeasing to himself. 
The Christian looks to God, and calls those 
things evil which are displeasing to him." 

In like manner, considered as the opposite of 
" gtiod," " evil " also involves two distinct but 
related elements, — a condition which is sinful- 
ness, and an experience which is misery. O 
friends! sinfulness and wretchedness are related, 
not merely as antecedent and consequent, but 
as cause and effect. Such is the constitution of 
the human soul, and such is the administration 
of the moral government of God, that, where 
there is sinfulness, there must be wretchedness. 



DELIVERANCE, 253 

Our Lord intended, in this petition, to include 
both of these elements. He meant to teach us 
to pray for deliverance from the guilt of com- 
pliance with temptations, and the inconceivable 
train of evil consequences which are connected 
with it. So he himself prayed for his disciples, 
when, in his memorable prayer recorded in the 
seventeenth chapter of John's Gospel, he 
said, " I pray not that thou wouldest take them 
out of the world, but that thou wouldest keep 
them from the evil" This also is referred to by 
Paul, in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, 
when he says, " But the Lord is faithful, who 
shall stablish you, and keep you from evil" 

This interpretation is confirmed by a reference 
to the Greek word, here rendered " deliver." It 
means to "break chains, loose bands, snatch, 
pluck away." With this before us, you perceive 
that our petition prays, that God would " break " 
the chains of guilt and misery, " loose" the 
bands of sin and sorrow, and " pluck " us out 
of the temporal and eternal dangers to which 
guilt exposes us. 

II. The importance of prayer for such deliver- 



254 DELIVERANCE. 

ance. 1. Because this is the only essential evil 
to which we are exposed. 

The world is full of real and imaginary evils. 
Diseases of the body, loss of friends, business 
adversities, and calamitous circumstances are 
evils. Ignorance, sensuality, pride, hatred, re- 
venge, covetousness, and all inordinate passions, 
are evils. Man's inhumanity to man, civil and 
ecclesiastical tyranny, and all the vices which 
stalk with iron feet over bleeding hearts, are 
lamentable evils. Sickness and poverty, pain 
and death, as well as the consuming flame, the 
desolating flood, grim famine, and the withering 
thunder-bolt, are tremendous evils. The Bible 
represents the whole creation as groaning and 
travailing in pain together on account of them. 
But I tell you that all these are only branches 
from one root, only streams from one fountain, 
only effects of one cause ; and that this root, 
fountain, cause, is sin against God, with its in- 
numerable ramifications and developments. 

Rev. Dr. Isaac Barrow thus powerfully ex- 
hibits this great truth : " As for such evils 
as these, the want of things necessary or 
convenient for us; bodily disease and pain; 



DELIVERANCE. 255 

disappointment in our designs, and ill success in 
our undertakings ; disgrace and reproach upon 
our good names ; dangers, difficulties, and dis- 
tresses, concerning our outward estate ; distrac- 
tions, vexations, and troubles of mind about 
temporal matters, — with the like evils (in some 
sense, in some degree, evils, or appearing such 
to our natural sense and fancy), we may, 
indeed, deprecate them, as even our Lord him- 
self, with submission, did, to the wisdom and will 
of God, in case it pleaseth him, and he thinketh 
fit to remove them. But all these things are hut 
names and empty sounds in comparison to spiritual 
and eternal evils, — such as are vicious dis- 
tempers of mind; indispositions to serve God; 
ill progress in our spiritual affairs ; dissatisfac- 
tion concerning our state in respect to God; 
actual transgression of God's holy will and law ; 
incurring God's displeasure and disfavor ; being 
deprived of his grace and assistance ; wanting 
the communion and comfort of his Holy Spirit ; 
remorse of conscience and anguish of spirit for 
having violated or neglected our duty; blind- 
ness of mind ; hardness of heart ; want of love, 
reverence, and devotion towards God, of charity 



256 DELIVERANCE. 

and good-will towards our neighbor, and of 
sobriety, humility, regularity of passion, and 
calmness of temper, in respect to ourselves and 
the inward frame of our souls : with respect to 
these and such like evils, we should absolutely 
request of God, that he, in mercy, would deliver 
and free us from them, they being irreconcilably 
contrary to his will and glory, and inconsistent 
with our eternal welfare." 

If you analyze this extended specification of 
evil, you will discover that the root, fountain, 
cause, of all is sin ; and that, therefore, it is the 
evil of evils, — the only essential evil in the 
world. 

Now, I know, as well as you do, that men 
generally do not believe this. They either deny 
it theoretically, or ignore it practically. They 
locate evil outside of themselves, as inhering in 
disastrous circumstances. In illustration of this, 
I give you a fact. " Do you see that man walk- 
ing yonder ? " said one friend to another, while 
passing down a street. " He is a ruined man, 
sir." What think you had befallen that 
person ? His health was perfect. He had ex- 
perienced no great domestic sorrow. He had 



DELIVERANCE. 257 

committed no crime. His integrity had not 
been impeached ; and his character was unex- 
ceptionable : and yet he was pronounced a 
" ruined man." " Ruin " is a fearful word. At 
its mention, the imagination conjures up dismal 
scenes. Any ruined object is a lamentable 
sight. But, when we think of a ruined man, 
the vision is more terrible than our conceptions 
can grasp. Why, think you, the person referred 
to was pronounced ruined ? Simply because, by 
means of circumstances over which he had no 
control, and for which he was not responsible, 
he had lost his property, and been reduced from 
competency to poverty. True, his health of 
body, his character for integrity, his ability to 
work, friends to love him, and God to help him, 
all remained ; but, in commercial nomenclature, 
he was pronounced " ruined" Oh, how super- 
ficial is the world's thinking ! how unjust its 
judgments ! how delusive its views ! how 
short-sighted its penetration ! Nay, friends, all 
essential evil is within ourselves ; it is sin : 
that is the only fundamental evil, and the 
prolific source of all that harms body or soul, in 

time or eternity. 
17 



258 DELIVERANCE. 

This is indirectly proven by reason, which, in 
its last analysis, finds that all which the world 
calls evil are simply effects ; for which there 
must be a back-lying, adequate, everywhere- 
operating cause. 

This is directly proven by the Bible ; which 
shows that those evils were not in our world 
until sin entered, and gives us the testimony 
of God himself, who affirms that sin' is the only 
radical " evil, and bitter thing which he hates" 
not merely because of its intrinsic wrongfulness 
and hideousness, but because it is the originat- 
ing cause of the alienation of humanity from 
himself, and all the temporal and eternal w^oes 
to which it is obnoxious. " Let no man say, 
when he is tempted, I am tempted of God ; for 
he cannot be tempted of evil, and tempteth no 
man. But every man is tempted when he is 
drawn away of his own lusts, and enticed ; and 
lust, when it hath conceived, bring eth forth sin : 
and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

" What havoc hast thou made, foul monster, Sin ! 
Greatest and first of ills I The fruitful parent 
Of woes of all dimensions ! But for thee, 
Sorrow had never been 1 " 



?> 



DELIVERANCE. 259 

2. We ought to offer this petition, because we 
cannot deliver ourselves. 

If we could, there would be no propriety in 
prayer ; for God never does any thing for us 
which we can do for ourselves. What saith 
the word ? " Though thou wash thee with 
nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine in- 
iquity is marked before me, saith Jehovah. Can 
the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard 
his spots ? Then may ye also do good, that are 
accustomed to do evil." " The heart is deceit- 
ful above all things, and desperately wicked. 
Who can know it?" "A good tree cannot 
bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt 
tree bring forth good fruit." " No man can 
come to me, except the Father, which hath 
sent me, draw him." " The carnal mind is en- 
mity against God ; for it is not subject to the 
law of God, neither, indeed, can be." "So, 
then, they that are in the flesh cannot please 
God." " His own iniquity shall take the 
wicked himself, and he shall he holden with the 
cords of his sins" 

How the world has struggled to deliver itself 
from what it regarded as evil! How it has 



260 DELIVERANCE. 

striven to escape sorrow, and secure happiness ! 
How it has toiled to rear impassible intrench- 
ments against the entrance of armed ills ! Men 
have travelled ; but care has gone with them in 
all their journeyings. The great Roman said, 
" One twinge of tooth-ache makes me forget 
that I am Caesar." They have selected choice 
spots in which to rest; but anxieties and so- 
licitudes have accompanied them. They have 
aimed at, and reached high positions ; but they 
have found that storms were there, as well as 
sunshine. They have sought refuge from trou- 
ble in the flowing bowl ; but they could not 
stupefy conscience. They have purchased plea- 
sures at enormous prices, and discovered, at last, 
that they had bought weariness and remorse. 
They have enslaved their bodies and pauper- 
ized their spirits, for gold ; but they have been 
horrified when God said, " Go to, now, ye rich 
men; weep and howl for your miseries that 
shall come upon you. Your riches are cor- 
rupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the 
rust of them shall be a witness against you, and 
shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Byron 



DELIVERANCE. 261 

wrote not only his own experience, but that of 
thousands of others, in these lines : — 

" Though gay companions o'er the bowl 

Dispel a while the sense of ill ; 
Though pleasure fill the maddening soul, 

The heart, the heart, is lonely still. 
Ay, but to die, and go, alas ! 

Where all have gone, and all must go ; 
To be the nothing that I was 

Ere born to life and living woe ; 

Count o'er the joys these hours have seen, 

Count o'er the days from anguish free ; 
And know, whatever thou hast been, 

'Tis something better not to be. 
Nay, for myself, so dark my fate 

Through every line of life hath been, 
Man and the world so much I hate, 

I care not when I quit the scene." 

Others have tried to remove moral evil by 
the endurance of physical ills. They have tor- 
tured their bodies in every conceivable way to 
remove sin from their souls, but all in vain. 
Internal causes cannot be removed by external 
appliances. 



262 DELIVERANCE. 

" Trust me : no torture which the poets feign 
Can match the fierce, unutterable pain 
He feels who, night and day, devoid of rest, 
Carries his own accuser in his breast." 

"Earthly reformers have busied themselves 
about outer circumstances, to the neglect of in- 
ner character. They have hoped to cure the 
dropsied limb by the application, externally, 
of the bandage and compress. They have pre- 
scribed for the inner aneurism of the heart the 
mere skin-deep lotion of social ameliorations and 
outward decencies. They have found the Upas- 
tree of human depravity radiating death over a 
wide circuit, and shooting its roots and fila- 
ments into all the laws and lore and usages, 
the joys and toils and scenes, of earth, and drop- 
ping poison on all beneath its shade ; and these 
heedless and sanguine philanthropists have said, 
4 It needs more compost in the soil, and a neater 
and taller fence. Whitewash its trunk, and top 
its boughs, and tie upon it a few grafts of phi- 
losophy and almsgiving, and order, and all will 
be well.' But divine reason spoke out, by the 
lips of our Lord, in his sermon on the mount, 
" Make the tree good, and its fruit will be good." 



DELIVERANCE. 263 

" The mind is its own place, and in itself 

Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven." 

It is true that there are many personal, social, 
and governmental evils which men produce, and 
which they can and ought to eradicate. They 
are verily guilty for not doing so immediately. 
But when we come to sinfulness within our own 
natures, which develops itself in an evil heart, 
an evil conscience, an evil imagination, evil pas- 
sions, perverted reason, darkened understanding, 
and a rebellious will, all of which are in affinity 
with an evil world and Satan, — these we find a 
power stronger than ourselves. We find in 
combating with it, that our strength is weak- 
ness, our wisdom is folly, our efforts towards self- 
deliverance futile. Then our souls feel the 
need humanity has ever felt ; and our voices join 
in its sad, monotonous cry, "Deliver us from 
evil." This has been the experience of those 
whom we regard as the best of men. David 
exclaimed, " Mine iniquities are gone over my 
head ; as an heavy burden, they are too heavy 
for me. I am troubled, I am bowed down great- 
ly ; I go mourning all the day long ; I am feeble 



264 DELIVERANCE, 

and sore broken." Paul, the great apostle, in 
giving us an account of his inner life, says, 
" For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) 
dwelleth no good thing : for to will is present 
with me ; but how to perform that which is 
good I find not. For the good that I would, I 
do not ; but the evil which I would not, that I do. 
I find, then, a law, that, when I would do good, 
evil is present with me : for I delight in the 
law of God after the inward man ; but I see 
another law in my members warring against the 
law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity 
to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh ! 
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me 
from the body of this death ? " 

Whilst, therefore, humanitarianism and all 
other sceptical systems of philosophy aim at 
deliverance from evil by educating the mind, 
freeing it from superstition, and by force of will 
and outward changes of conditions and circum- 
stances, Christianity affirms, that there is no 
delivering power from radical evil within a 
depraved soul, or in any possible surroundings ! 
nay, it says to poor, lost, enervated humanity, 
Look out of thyself, above all thy conditions, 



DELIVERANCE. 265 

and penitently cry to thy Father, God, " De- 
liver us from evil." 

III. Encouragements to offer .this petition. 

These are many and glorious. I direct atten- 
tion to a few of the more prominent. 

1. The fact that he taught us thus to pray. 
The most eminent lawyer may give wrong 
legal advice. The most eminent physician may 
make a wrong medical prescription. The wisest 
teacher may give incorrect instruction. The 
greatest general may issue a wrong order in the 
very heat of battle. To err is human. But 
our Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, the celes- 
tial-terrestrial, the infinite-finite, who thoroughly 
knows our nature and all of its capabilities 
and possibilities, and who is perfectly cognizant 
of all the evil within and without us, and who 
feels the profoundest, most loving solicitude in 
our welfare, says no word about delivering our- 
selves, or about delivering circumstances, but 
teaches us to look up to God, and cry, " Deliver 
us from evil." He is too wise to err. He em- 
bodied the wisdom of God. Do you not, then, 
perceive what immense encouragement is found 



266 DELIVERANCE. 

in the fact, that he taught us thus to pray ? Do 
you wonder that his followers love to sing, 

" Come, thou long-expected Jesus, 
Born to set thy people free : 
From our fears and sins release us ; 
Let us find our rest in thee. 

Israel's strength and consolation, 
Hope of all the saints thou art ; 

Dear desire of every nation, 
Joy of every longing heart " ? 

And what he taught by teaching us to offer 
this petition is found developed in other forms 
throughout his entire gospel. Glorious assu- 
rance ! " We have not a High Priest which can- 
not be touched with the feeling of our infirmi- 
ties, but was in all points tempted as we are, 
yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly 
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, 
and find grace to help in time of need" 

Dr. Williams has eloquently said, " He not 
only shaped this prayer, but sustains its every 
petition, buttressing the summit of the ladder on 
the throne of his original and equal godhead, 
and bracing the foot of that ladder against the 



DELIVERANCE. 267 

cradle, the cross, and the tomb of his incarna- 
tion." 

2. The willingness and ability of our Father 
to deliver us. 

Earthly parents would gladly deliver their 
children from all evil, if they could ; but, how- 
ever willing to do so, they have not the ability. 
" Our Father" is both infinitely willing and able. 
He is both love and almightiness, manifested in 
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is stronger than the 
strong man of our depravity ; stronger than Sa- 
tan, with all his infernal cunning ; stronger than 
evil, in its most tremendous forms. Seventy 
times in the Bible he is called the " Almighty." 
His hand is called " the mighty hand of God." 
We read of "the thunder of his power; " that 
"he weighs the mountains in scales, and the 
hills in a balance." Heaven's grandest an- 
them, in which the earth is yet to join, is, 
" Allelujah ! for the Lord God Omnipotent reign- 
eth." O blessed assurance ! He is mighty to 
save, strong to deliver ; and he says, u Call on 
me in the day of trouble ; and I will deliver thee, 
and thou shalt glorify me." What inexpressible 
encouragement to the most discouraged is found 



268 DELIVERANCE. 

in this truth ! Friend, have you almost given 
up in despair ? Are you weary with struggles 
against evil, and hopeless of escape from it ? 
Take courage in view of this truth. Peniten- 
tially and believingly lay hold upon divine 
omnipotence, and you shall be amazed at its 
efficiency. Verily, through its power you shall 
come off conqueror, yea, more than conqueror, 
and shout with joy full of glory, u Thanks be to 
God, who giveth us the victory, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ." ' 

I repeat, that permanent, delivering power is 
found nowhere else. In the fourth volume of the 
history of " The United-States Exploring Expe- 
dition," we are told, that in the Columbia River, 
which empties into the Pacific, there is a place 
where the waters are compressed into a narrow 
channel ; and the whole volume falls many feet 
down descending rocks. This passage is very 
dangerous, but is often made with safety in a 
small boat. Below it, however, is a. far greater 
danger. The water is comparatively smooth, and 
indicates no treachery ; but the explorers say, 
that the boat which has safely passed the preced- 
ing danger, and whose occupants may be rejoi- 



DELIVERANCE. 269 

cing in their escape, when it reaches a certain 
point, begins to move in a circular course. 
Swifter and swifter it thus revolves, until no effort 
from within can take it out of that dreadful cur- 
rent. Round and round it whirls, until, having 
reached a fatal centre, it shoots downward ; and 
they tell us, that rarely afterwards is even a 
fragment of the fated boat discovered. Thus 
it often proves in human life. After persons 
have passed through one class of perils, and 
reached positions where they thought themselves 
safe, temptations in new forms, arising out of 
new circumstances, assail them, and, alas ! they 
are ruined. Brilliancy of intellect, wealth of 
acquisition, previous experiences, honest resolu- 
tions, have all failed in the hour of direct emer- 
gency. The grace of G-od through Jesus Christ 
has never failed. He saith to us, 

" Fear not, I am with thee : oh, be not dismayed ! 
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid : 
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, 
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand 

When through the deep waters I call thee to go, 
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow ; 
For I will be with thee, thy trials to bless, 
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. 



270 DELIVERANCE. 

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, 
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply. 
The flame shall not hurt thee : I only design 
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine. 

E'en down to old age all my people shall prove 
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love ; 
And then, when gray hairs shall their temples adorn, 
Like lambs they shall still in my bosom be borne. 

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, 
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes : 
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, 
I'll never, — no, never, — no, never forsake ! " 

Finally, great encouragement is found in the 
fact, that he has delivered so many in the past, 
and is delivering so many now. Recall some of 
the testimonies of ancient witnesses. One of 
them said, " The God of my father was my help, 
and delivered me." Another, " The Lord heard, 
and delivered me from all my fears." Of Israel, 
Moses said, " The Lord delivered them." David 
said, " Thou art my help, and my deliverer." 
The New Testament abounds with the records 
of delivering grace ; and heaven is filled with 
monuments of its power. Sweetly Jesus said, 
"In the world ye shall have tribulation, 



DELIVERANCE. 271 

but be of good cheer: I have overcome the 
world." Although Satan, " as a roaring lion," 
still " goeth about seeking whom he may 
devour," the " lion of the tribe of Judah " is 
everywhere delivering from that cruel adver- 
sary. The promise is being fulfilled, which says, 
" The God of peace shall bruise Satan under 
your feet shortly." Observe, it says not that 
we shall bruise Satan under our feet, but 
that God shall do it. Oh, then, be encouraged 
to strive and pray for deliverance from evil ! 
and you shall be delivered. " The peace of 
God which passeth all understanding shall keep 
your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ." 
" He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He 
that keepeth thee will not slumber. The Lord 
Jehovah will be thy keeper, thy shade upon 
thy right hand." ** Surely he shall deliver thee 
from the snare of the fowler." " There shall no 
evil befall thee; for he shall give his angels 
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." 
" He shall preserve thy soul ; yea, the Lord 
shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming 
in, from this time forth and forevermore." 
Verily, thou shalt confidently exclaim, with Paul, 



272 DELIVERANCE. 

" The Lord shall deliver me from every evil 
work." Verily, when thou passest through the 
valley of dark shadows, thou shalt calmly say, 
" I fear no evil ; for thou art with me : thy rod 
and thy staff they comfort me." And, in the 
glorious beyond, thy radiant feet shall stand on 
the eternal mount of deliverance ; and thy 
voice shall join the multitudinous host of those 
who sing, " Unto him that loved us, and washed 
us from our sins in his own blood, and hath 
made us priests and kings unto God and his 
Father, — to him be glory and dominion for 
ever and ever. Amen." 




XI. 



ARGUMENT OF THE PRAYER. 




Snt tftme is tfje ktngtrom anti tfje pofoer auto tfje glar^, 
far eber* <3men." 



Matt. vi. 13. 




THE ARGUMENT. 

11 Unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we 
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, — unto Him be 
glory in the Church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without 
end. Amen." 

WE have now reached the conclusion of 
the Lord's Prayer; and I confess to an 
experience of something like regret on account 
of it. These studies have been as thorough as 
attention to other duties has permitted and my 
abilities have allowed. To me they have been 
so profitable and delightful, that I regret their 
termination. In preparing these lectures, I have 
seemed to myself like one ascending a lofty 
mountain, who finds at each advancing step 
broader and grander sweeps of view, new and 
varied objects of interest, and who is so en- 
grossed with the scenery, that, when he reaches 

275 



276 THE ARGUMENT. 

the summit, and stands with nothing between 
him and the heaven which seems so near, where 
the air is so pure, and the prospect so sublime, 
he regrets that he must descend, and leave the 
grand old heights perhaps forever: even so, 
after having been engaged so long in ascending 
this mount of God, upon the* steps of each suc- 
ceeding petition, until the last, the culminating 
one is reached, where the spiritual altitude is so 
high, and the breadth of view so immense, — the 
thought, that, after considering it, I must leave 
this sacred elevation, has caused me the sin- 
cerest regret. 

But as he who has once studiously ascended 
a mountain, though he may never go up its sides 
again, will bear in his body the physical benefits 
of his toil, and in his memory and imagination 
the scenes he saw, and in his entire moral nature 
the general invigoration received, even so, I 
hope, that, although we may never again climb 
the sacred heights of this prayer, we may ever 
carry in our minds the truths, in our hearts the 
principles, we have contemplated, and that they 
may become formative and potent in all the 
developments of our future lives. 



THE ARGUMENT. 211 

Perhaps you have observed that this closing 
portion of the model prayer, which is recorded 
by Matthew, is not found in Luke's record of it : 
but you must remember, that the former records 
it as given at a particular time and in special 
circumstances ; while the latter records it as 
delivered at a different time and in different cir- 
cumstances. The one was given in Galilee, 
the other in Judea. The one was unasked, the 
other requested by a disciple. The former was 
spoken when our Lord was preaching, the latter 
after he had been praying. The former was 
addressed to an indiscriminate mass of hearers, 
the latter to his disciples ; and to them much 
other instruction was given as to the matter of 
prayer. And if you bear in mind that his 
design was, not so much to teach the matter as 
the manner of prayer, you will not be troubled 
by the omission of this portion of it in the 
record according to Luke. 

You ought also to know that this portion is 
not found in some of the most ancient manu- 
script copies of Matthew's Gospel ; and that 
therefore some do not receive it as part of the 
original prayer. Most Christians, however, do; 



278 THE ARGUMENT. 

and with them I heartily concur, for the follow- 
ing reasons : — 

1. While it is omitted in the Latin copies of 
the New Testament, it is found in the Syriac 
version, which is the oldest of all the versions, 
being traceable up to the earliest ages of the 
Christian Church. It is preserved also in the 
Arabic and other Oriental versions. It is also 
introduced into the earliest Greek liturgies. 

2. We find similar expressions closing other 
prayers recorded in the Bible. The analogies, 
therefore, of inspired prayers manifestly favor 
the text as it stands. 

3. It is a natural termination. It harmonizes 
grandly with all that precedes. As Calvin said, 
" It aptly fits." 

4. If it was interpolated in the record of 
Matthew, why did the interpolator not add it to 

the record of Luke as well, and so make them 

» 

uniform? He who would have done it in the 
one case had an additional motive for doing it 
in the other ; and this is, to my mind, a moral 
demonstration, that there has been no interpola- 
tion at all, but that we have it recorded by Mat- 
thew just as our Lord delivered it in Galilee 



THE ARGUMENT. 279 

and in Luke's Gospel just as he delivered it in 
Judea. 

Some regard our text simply as a sublime form 
of praise and thanksgiving, appropriately accom- 
panying the series of petitions. However true 
that may be, in my judgment it is not the direct 
or most prominent truth concerning it ; nay, 
these expressions are chiefly a gathering-up, and 
earnest presentation of the reasons on account 
of which the petitions are urged. Thus viewed, 
the preposition "for" is causal in its nature. 
We express this whole process by the single 
word, argument. Proceed with me, then, to 
consider. 

The Argument of the Lord's Prayer. 

I. The history of all true prayer shows that 
God has permitted the use of arguments, in the 
sense of reasons, for the petitions offered. 
Do you remember that offered by Elijah, on the 
occasion of his controversy with the priests of 
Baal, when he prayed, " Lord God of Abraham, 
Isaac, and Israel, let it be known, this day, that 
thou art God in Israel, that I am thy servant, 
and that I have done all these things at thy word. 



280 THE ARGUMENT. 

Hear me, O Lord ! hear me, that this people may- 
know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou 
hast turned their hearts back again ? " A similar 
use of persuasive argumentation is found in the 
prayer of Jehoshaphat, when the Moabites came 
against him to battle. And when Hezekiah 
received the threatening message of Assyria's 
proud king, he thus prayed : " O Lord of hosts, 
God of Israel, thou art the God, even thou 
alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. In- 
cline thine ear, O Lord, and hear ; open thine 
eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear all the words 
of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach 
the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings 
of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and 
have cast their gods into the fire : for they were 
no gods, but the work of men's hands ; therefore 
they have destroyed them. Now, therefore, 
Lord our Grod, save us from his hand ; that all the 
kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the 
Lord, even thou only" Perhaps, however, the 
most impressive instance of this kind is found 
in the utterance of Job, when in great depres- 
sion of soul, caused by providential circum- 
stances, whose meaning he could not comprehend, 



THE ARGUMENT. 281 

he exclaimed, " Oh that I knew where I might 
find him ! I would come near, even to his seat. 
I would order my speech before him. I would 
fill my mouth with arguments" 

But, if you will study these prayers, you will 
discover that the reasons or the grounds on which 
they are urged are drawn from God himself. 
Hence, for " thy name's sake," "for thy glory," 
" for thy righteousness' sake," and similar ex- 
pressions abound in them. "We do not," urged 
the captive suppliant in Babylon, " present our 
supplications before thee for our righteousness." 
Abraham urged, in his prayer for Sodom, that 
God " could not destroy the righteous with the 
wicked." That was pressing in prayer what 
had been revealed as characteristic of Jehovah. 
Moses grounded his intercession for idolatrous 
Israel on the divine honor and glory, when he 
said, " If thou smite this people, then the Egyp- 
tians shall hear of it, and tell it to the inhabit- 
ants of their land." And when Joshua, in great 
distress, rent his clothes, and fell upon his face 
before the ark, he prayed, "Alas, O Lord God! 
what shall I say when Israel turneth their back 
before their enemies ? For the Canaanites and 



282 THE ARGUMENT. 

the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it ; and 
what wilt thou do with thy great name ? " In all 
the ages, God's people, in order to obtain what 
they ask for from him, have gone out of the 
sphere of their own interests into the circle of 
his glory for the materials of their devotional 
argumentation. Thus we are here taught to 
pray, "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom 
come. Thy will be done. Give us our daily 
bread. Forgive our sins, as we forgive. Lead 
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil ; " 
" for," because, " thine is the kingdom, the power, 
and the glory forever. Amen" Archbishop 
Leighton said, " Like the heavens, prayer hath 
a circular motion. Its inspiration, coming from 
God into the soul, returns back to him. You 
look upon the heavens. They are covered with 
rain-bearing clouds. Whence came they ? From 
the evaporations of deep, broad seas. They fall 
in copious showers upon the earth. Whither 
go they ? Evaporating from the land, gliding 
in brooks, rolling in rivers, they return to the 
sources whence they came. So does all true 
prayer." So does this model prayer especially. 
It begins with our Father, circles all human 



THE ARGUMENT. 283 

duties and necessities, and then lovingly, ador- 
ingly, returns to him, and is lost amid the gran- 
deurs of his character. 

In a former lecture, I have called attention to 
the two clusters of petitions ; but I must refer 
to them again in this connection. The first, 
regarding his name, his kingdom, and his will, 
exhibits the true ultimate objects of our exist- 
ence. The second, regarding our temporal and 
spiritual necessities, exhibits the means by which 
we are kept in being, and enabled to realize 
those objects. Now observe the beautiful unity 
and logical force of this close of the prayer, in 
the fact, that the results of the accomplishment 
of these divinely-ordained life-objects are urged 
as the argument for granting the petition — 
" for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the 
glory forever." 

II. Viewed as an argument, let us now ana- 
lyze these words. 

1. " Thine is the kingdom." 

This is a recognition of Him as " The King 
eternal, immortal, and invisible," — " The King 
of kings, and Lord of lords." This is recog- 



284 THE ARGUMENT. 

nizing him in his perfect, absolute sovereignty 
over the kingdoms of nature, providence, and 
grace, — over the entire universe. This is ac- 
knowledging him to be of right the ever-blessed 
supreme Potentate over heaven and earth. Oh, 
the truthfulness and adoring sublimity of this 
acknowledgment ! To what an elevation it 
lifts the human mind, and what expansion is 
given to all its powers, to think of the sole 
sovereignty of God over matter and mind, men 
and nations, the world and systems of worlds. 
The old Roman boasted, that " the kingdom was 
Caesar's," because his eagles, those imperial 
emblems of rapine, had swooped down upon 
so much of the habitable earth : but how much 
more is it God's, since he created it, upholds 
it, — God's, to whom the nations are as a drop 
in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust 
of the balance; who taketh up the isles as a 
very little thing, stretcheth out the heavens 
like a curtain, layeth the beams of his cham- 
bers in the waters, maketh the clouds his 
chariot, walketh upon the wings of the wind, 
and who is terrible in majesty" By him kings 
rule. Their crowns and sceptres all hang on 



THE ARGUMENT. 285 

his footstool. He alone is supreme in that 
highest realm of humanity which embraces our 
conscience, hearts, reason, and will. 

With this sublime truth before us, how blas- 
phemous appear the pretensions of the pope, the 
imperial autocrat of Rome, who is endeavoring 
at this moment to induce a council of his own 
selection to decree to him that infallibility which 
belongs only to the King eternal ! Think of a 
man arrayed in tawdry robes, and glittering 
with jewels, like a vain old woman, claiming 
supremacy over the human reason, conscience, 
and faith; dealing out powerless damnation 
against the civilization of the age, and all 
who will not submit to his authority ; claim- 
ing that all power, by inherent divine right, 
is concentrated in the Romish Church, of 
which he is the head ; that legitimate au- 
thority is not vested in the people, nor secu- 
lar monarchs, but in himself ; that to him all 
human authorities owe their highest allegiance ; 
that he alone is entitled to reign over the 
kingdom of human souls ; and that he is in- 
fallible in his government. Is not this a literal 
fulfilment of the prophecy found in the Second 



286 THE ARGUMENT. 

Epistle to the Thessalonians, second chapter, 
third and fourth verses, where we read, " Let 
no man deceive you by any means; for that 
day shall not come, except there come a falling 
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the 
son of perdition ; who opposeth and exalteth him- 
self above all that is called God, or that is wor- 
shipped ; so that he< as Grod, sitteth in the temple 
of Grod, showing himself that he is (rod? " Surely 
this is " the mystery of iniquity" of which the 
apostle speaks, " which doth already work " un- 
til " that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord 
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and 
shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 
We are, however, in danger of doing the 
same thing ourselves, by allowing the depravity 
of our individual souls to throw off allegiance 
to God, and assert either theoretically or prac- 
tically our independence of him. So also na- 
tionally, we who have breathed the free air of 
liberty from our cradles, and who so sturdily re- 
sist all tyranny in State or Church, and talk so 
boastingly about " the sovereignty of the peo- 
ple, 5 ' are in danger of forgetting the sphere and 
limitations of that sovereignty ; that it ex- 



THE ARGUMENT. 287 

tends neither to the human reason, conscience, 
nor heart ; that all human laws ought to be con- 
formed to, and must be subordinated to, the 
higher law of the " most high God." For every 
particle of matter, every event in providence, 
every intuition of right reason, every impulse of 
a good conscience, every element of right, truth, 
and justice, and every teaching of the Bible, 
join with the pious heart in exclaiming, " Thine 
is the kingdom ! thine are its resources ! thou 
art God over all ! " Do you see the point of this 
as an argument ? That point is seen in the fact, 
so adoringly urged, to our Father, that because 
his sovereignty embraces all the matters to 
which the petitions refer, because they are all 
within the sphere of his own kingdom, there- 
fore he, as absolute Sovereign, is urged to grant 
them. 

2. " Thine is the power." 

Observe the generality of this word. There 
are different kinds of power, — physical, intel- 
lectual, moral, and spiritual. Created beings 
may have one kind and not another ; and, what- 
ever they have, it is derived and limited. But 
this adoring plea saith, Thine is the power, — 



288 THE ARGUMENT. 

power of all kinds, underivedly, absolutely, inim- 
itably. Our Father is " the Almighty : " he is 
" the Lord God omnipotent," — the " Lord Jeho- 
vah, in whom is everlasting strength." " He hath 
an arm that is full of power : strong is his hand, 
and high is his right hand." We read of the 
thunder of his power. " Whatsoever his soul 
desireth, that he doeth." He speaks, and it is 
done : he commands, and it stands fast. There 
is a tendency, in our times, to deify the powers 
of nature ; whereas, they are nothing but God's 
energy, operating along the line of his own laws. 
Men, institutions, and governments are mighty ; 
but their mightiness is all derived from him. 
From his central throne his voice reverberates 
through the universe, saying, "I am the Al- 
mighty God ! " — " the everlasting God, the 
Creator of the ends of the earth ; who fainteth 
not, neither is weary." 

Do you perceive the argumentative force of 
this ? Oh ! it is saying, ' Thou hast power to 
enable us to hallow thy name ; power to cause 
thy kingdom to come ; power to sweetly subdue 
all wills to thy will; power over nature, over 
our dispositions and activities, so as to give us 



THE ARGUMENT. 289 

our daily bread ; power to make lis so conscious 
of the heinousness of our sins as to cry for for- 
giveness within the assigned limit, and to par- 
don all our guilt ; power to lead us not into 
temptation, and power to deliver us from all 
evil! ' Oh! it is confessing our weakness, and 
laying hold of his omnipotence. It is urging, that 
the ability to do what he requires, and what we 
know we ought to do, must come from himself. 
It is our weakness, grasping that in our Father 
by which he is able to do exceeding above all 
that we can ask or think. 

Alexander the Great was so pleased with 
Anaxarchus, the philosopher, that he bade him 
go to his treasurer, and ask for any sum of 
money he pleased. The philosopher was a poor 
man, and, availing himself of the rare opportu- 
nity, demanded, in the sovereign's name, ten 
thousand pounds. Greatly surprised, the treas- 
urer refused the request, and waited upon the 
king, representing to him the unreasonableness 
of the petition, as seen in the exorbitancy of 
the sum asked, and concluded by saying, that 
" it seemed too much for any one man to re- 
ceive." Alexander heard him patiently, but 

19 



290 * THE ARGUMENT. 

royally replied, " Let the money be instantly 
paid. It is not too much for the king to give. 
He has signally honored both my superior wealth 
and royal munificence by the largeness of his re- 
quest" But what was either the wealth or lib- 
erality of the Greek king compared with the 
infinitude of both possessed by our Father in 
heaven? Therefore, "Ask, and ye shall re- 
ceive." What is asked may be vastly more 
than we deserve ; but we cannot ask more than 
he is abundantly able to grant. Therefore 
" every one that asketh, receiveth ; and he that 
seeketh, findeth." "If ye, then, being evil, 
know how to give good gifts to your children, 
how much more shall your heavenly Father 
give good things to them that ask him ? " 

3. " Thine is the glory." 

In this we have the logical culmination of the 
argumentative plea of the Lord's Prayer. Be- 
ginning with the fact of his sovereignty, passing 
to the fact of his omnipotence in the universal 
realm of his sovereignty, the argument culmi- 
nates in the sublime fact, that all the results 
which shall follow the answers to these seven 
petitions shall glorify himself, "the King 



THE ARGUMENT. 291 

of glory." It is urging that the glory which 
shall accrue from hallowing thy name, from the 
coming of thy kingdom, from the doing of thy 
will, from the sustainment of our bodies, the 
forgiveness of sins, and our preservation from 
the evil of temptation shall all be thine own for- 
ever. Oh ! it is saying, " Our Father, the glory 
not only rightfully belongs to thee, but we are 
willing, yea, desirous, that it should be thine. 
We ask nothing for ourselves. All our good is 
bound up in thy glory. With all thy redeemed 
children, we joyfully exclaim, ' Blessed be thy 
glorious name forever ; and let the whole earth 
be filled with thy glory.' From our heart 
of hearts we cry, "Now unto the King eternal, 
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor 
and glory, for ever and ever." "Unto Him 
that is able to do exceeding abundantly above 
all that we ask or think, according to the power 
that worketh in us, — unto him be glory in the 
church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, 
world without end. Amen." We read, in 
ancient story, of a great conqueror, who, amid 
the pomp and grandeur of a stately triumph, 
was asked by one of his courtiers " if any thing 



292 THE ARGUMENT. 

was yet wanting" Mournfully the conqueror 
surveyed the gorgeous pageant, and then sorrow- 
fully replied, " One thing is wanting, — continu- 
ance." Beloved, the kingdom of our Father can 
never be shaken : his power is inexhaustible : 
his glory is everlasting. What a word is that 
"forever" ! Nothing can increase, nothing di- 
minish, nothing can change, the eternal, ineffa- 
ble glory of Him who is " glorious in holiness, 
fearful in praises, doing wonders." " He shall 
reign King forever." Thus the argument cul- 
minates in the glory of God as the crowning 
chapter of its column, — the pinnacle which 
gives finish and symmetry to its pyramid. 

4. The argument closes with the single word 
" Amen." 

That untranslated word gathers up and con- 
centrates in itself the whole prayer, and says, 
So may it he. In using it, we express our cordial 
assent to all that has gone before, our earnest 
desire that the arguments may avail, and the 
petitions be granted. And more than even this. 
There is involved the element of hope and 
assurance that they will be. The word " Amen " 
was often used by our Saviour as an oath, attest- 
ing sincerity. 



THE ARGUMENT. 293 

It comes from the same root as the Hebrew- 
word for faith ; and thus it expresses confidence 
in our Father's ability, and willingness to hear 
and answer the petitions which his own Spirit 
indited, and his own Son taught us to offer. 
This sacred word is the seal with which 
the devout soul seals its prayerful missive 
to heaven. Thus the prayer closes ; and it 
is left with God. Luther said, " The true 
Christian prays an everlasting Lord's Prayer." 

In concluding this course of lectures, permit 
a few closing words. 

1. i~ hope this prayer will be to you hereafter 
more than it ever was before. 

I am conscious of having developed only its 
surface richness, and that there are depths, 
breadths, and heights of truth in it which we 
have not reached. But I trust that our studies 
of it, superficial as they may have been, will 
make it more solemnly beautiful, more tenderly 
interesting, and more grandly prayerful to us, 
than it ever was before. Let us shrink from its 
thoughtless repetition; let us feel more and 
more the need of the enlightening and assisting 
influence of the Holy Spirit, in order to compre- 



294 THE ARGUMENT. 

hend and offer it acceptably, heeding the apos- 
tolic injunctions, " Building yourselves up one 
your most holy faith, praying in the Holy 
Ghost; " " Praying always with all prayer, and 
supplications in the Spirit." The aid of the 
Spirit is the promise of the Father, and the pur- 
chase of his Son. An essential part of his 
ministry is " to help our infirmities," " guide us 
into all truth," " take of the things of Christ, 
and show them unto us," and to nourish within 
us that spirituality which is essential to all 
acceptable prayer. Thus assisted, we shall com- 
prehend more and more this sublime composi- 
tion ; and, while our minds perceive its immense 
fulness and riches, our hearts shall more and 
more earnestly, lovingly, believingly, and per- 
sistently offer its petitions and urge its argument. 
Thus we shall come into closer and closer 
affinity with the sacramental host of God's elect 
of all the ages, and more and more honor him 
who taught us thus to pray. 

2. A closing word to those who never pray this 
or any other prayer. 

It is a lamentable fact, that there are 
multitudes of such, — yes, multitudes, — who, 



THE ARGUMENT. 295 

although created and sustained by God, dwell- 
ing on his earth, breathing his air, living 
upon his bounty, dependent upon him for all 
they enjoy, and responsible to him, moving con- 
stantly towards his judgment-seat, who yet never 
speak to Grod at all, — have nothing to say to 
him. Oh ! is it any wonder, that, when such 
shall stand before the great white throne, they 
shall be " speechless " there ? Are you of such ? 
Are you leading a prayerless life ? Do you never, 
never, speak to God, — never thank him for 
his mercies, never implore his assistance, never 
ask pardon for a single sin ? Are you of those 
who never call him " Father ; " who do not hal- 
low his name, who oppose his kingdom, resist his 
will, practically deny his relation to your daily 
food, seek no forgiveness, and ask no deliverance 
from evil ? Fearfully, criminally, guilty is your 
position. Will you remain in it ? Are you 
determined to go praj^erlessly through life, down 
to your graves, and up to God ? Friends, by so 
doing, you are not only insulting Heaven, defy- 
ing omnipotence, rejecting the infinite riches of 
grace in Christ Jesus, but you are treasuring 
up sorrow against the day of sorrow, wrath 



296 THE ARGUMENT. 

against the day of wrath. Listen to my closing 
word to you. Bow and pray. The Hearer 
waits to hear. Take to yourself these words, 
and say, " I will arise, and go unto my Father, 
and will say unto him, i Father, I have sinned 
against Heaven and in thy sight, and am no more 
worthy to be called thy son. ' " And oh how 
joyfully you shall be received ! 

3. A closing word to those who do pray. 

Has not the greatness of this privilege and 
the importance of this duty grown upon you, 
as we have progressed in these studies ? Do 
we not feel disposed to pray more, and to more 
closely conform our petitions, both in matter and 
manner, to this model prayer ? Surely as we 
remember how we have performed this exercise 
oftentimes in the past, we must all feel deeply 
mortified, and not at all surprised, that such 
small results have followed. Let the words, 
" After this manner pray ye," abide with us ; 
and then we shall be very humble, direct, ear- 
nest, comprehensive, and brief in all our 
prayers. 

• Let David's resolution be ours, when he said, 
" I give myself unto prayer ; " by which he pur- 



THE ARGUMENT. 297 

posed, that no obstacle should stand in the way 
of the performance of this primal duty, the en- 
joyment of this sublimest privilege, which he felt 
to be the very breath, solace, and stay of his 
life. Truthfully Cowper sang, — 

" What various hindrances we meet 
In coming to a mercy-seat ! 
Yet who that knows the worth of prayer 
But wishes to be often there ? 

Prayer makes the darkened clouds withdraw ; 

Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw ; 
Gives exercise to faith and love ; 

Brings every blessing from above. 

Restraining prayer, we cease to fight ; 

Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright ; 
And Satan trembles when he sees 

The weakest saint upon his knees. 

Have you no words ? Ah, think again ! 

Words flow apace when you complain, 
And fill a fellow-creature's ear 

With the sad tale of all your care. 

Were half the breath thus vainly spent 

To Heaven in supplication sent, 
Our cheerful song would oftener be, 

' Hear what the Lord hath done for me.' " 



298 



THE ARGUMENT. 



Brethren, this world is the only place for 
prayer ; and we shall all soon leave it. As it 
was said of the sweet singer of Israel, so it will 
soon be said of us, " The prayers of David the 
son of Jesse are ended." 




30 



